Proper Citation

Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH) Act. Signed into law by President Bush on November 2, the TEACH Act loosens the restraints created by the DMCA insofar as education is concerned

More importantly, the idea of Fair Use was effectively removed from Web-based education because of the DMCA

Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was passed in Oct. 1998 "to implement United States treaty obligations and to move the nation's copyright law into the digital age.

Resources for using sound recordings in online education

Resources for using video in online education

Place the video in the context of the course, explaining why it was chosen and what it was intended to illustrate. Recontextualize the video when appropriate through the addition of background readings, study questions, commentary, criticism, annotation, and student reactions.

Resources for using images in online education

If copying an image, use the lowest image resolution possible to achieve your purpose.

Note: Professor Meghani is making too much work for herself by scanning the text. Instead, she could direct her students to Project Gutenberg, which contains public domain titles available for download in multiple formats. In this case, the Marxists Internet Archive would also be a good sourc

It is not necessary to prevailon each of the four factors for asuccessful fair use claim.

Fair use is a flexible standard andall four statutory factors areconsidered together.

The US Constitution clearlystates that the purpose of theintellectual property system is to“promote the progress of science andthe useful arts

ir use is a right explicitly recognizedby the Copyright Act.1 The SupremeCourt has recognized this right as a“First Amendment safeguard” becausecopyright law might otherwiseconstrict freedom of speech

The Copyright Clearance Center can grant permission to digitize, display and transmit print works

Using the Four Factors

TEACH Act Checklist

The TEACH Act checklist, summarizes the 22 (!) prerequisites. Nevertheless, we may be optimistic that, together with fair use, this statute will achieve Congress' goal of facilitating online education.

are a small subset of the uses of online resources educators may wish to make. It only covers in class performances and displays, not, for example, supplemental online reading, viewing, or listening materials. For those activities, as well as many others, we'll need to continue to rely on fair use. Remember, however, when relying on fair use, the fair use test is sensitive to harm to markets. This means that in general, where there is an established market for permissions, there will often be a narrower scope for fair use, and our reliance on fair use should be limited.

The TEACH Act authorizes us to digitize works for use in online education, but only to the extent we are authorized to use those works in Section 110(2), and so long as they are not available digitally in a format free from technological protection.

The statute's complexity provides a new context within which to think about fair use: compared to the many conditions and limits contained in Section 110(2), the four factor fair use test seems simple and elegant.

The audiovisual works and dramatic musical works may only be shown as clips -- "reasonable and limited portions".

The TEACH Act of 2002, expanded the scope of online educators' rights to perform and display works and to make copies integral to such performances and displays, making the rights closer to those we have in face-to-face teaching. But there is still a considerable gap between what the statute authorizes for face-to-face teaching and for online education.

Copyright law provides educators with a separate set of rights in addition to fair use, to display (show) and perform (show or play) others' works in the classroom. These rights are in Section 110(1) of the Copyright Act and apply to any work, regardless of the medium.

Because your institution is likely to be liable, along with an accused individual, for the infringements of faculty, students and staff, most institutions advise such individuals not to use works for which required permission cannot be obtained.

There truly may be no one who cares about what you do with a particular work, but the bottom line is that no amount of unsuccessful effort eliminates liability for copyright infringement. Copyright protects materials whether the owner cares about protection or not.

If you are preparing a commercial product, you will need assurances of authority to grant permission because your publisher will expect those assurances from you.

question them about whether they retained copyright or whether they assigned it to their publisher.

If you know who the author and the publisher are, you can contact them directly. If you do not know who the publisher is, The Literary Marketplace (for books) or Ulrich's Web (for journals - requires login) may help you.  Once you know whom to ask, writing a letter, calling or emailing are all appropriate ways to initiate contact.

Where fair use may be questioned, implied rights may be broader, but an express right to use is best - it's clear and reassuring. It's possible today to search Creative Commons licensed works by license type, or limit your search to be sure that your results include only materials intended for use by educators and students.

You can easily give your works an express license by attaching a Creative Commons license to the materials you post online. It's easy and it sends the message that you want your materials to be part of the flow of creativity. No one creates in a vacuum. Just as you build on others' works, others will build on yours.

So, just by posting online, an author implies a limited license to use their work in this manner.

Simply putting the fingers to the save key creates a copyrighted work. Once expression is committed to a tangible medium, copyright protection is automatic. So, postings of all kinds are protected the same as published printed works.