eDuCATIOn, and coPyrigHt Harmonization (teacH) act
A law that increased the number and types of copyrighted works an instructor can use without obtaining permission, paying licensing fees, or relying on items in the public domain.
institutional obligations
TEACH Act requirements that institutions be responsible for copyright compliance by imposing their own restrictions on access, developing new policies, and disseminating copyright information.
deem appropriate, including via written materials, face-to-face workshops, distance learning instruction, or websites.
From a technological perspective, the TEACH Act focuses on the course content’s security. The Act requires that institutions and their educators transmit course content for the sole use of enrolled students. In most cases, courses delivered via learning management systems (LMSs) are password-protected and restricted to registered students, thereby avoiding the issue of unauthorized access. However, other course content made available to students online may not meet this requirement for limited access (Enghagen, 2005, p. 82). For example, you may consider developing a personal blog for your students through Blogger.com, even though websites that are not secure do not satisfy the security requirement, because anyone may access and transmit the content rather than just registered students. Therefore, you should avoid posting copyright- protected works to sites that are not secure.
One of the greatest misconceptions about copyrighted works and the Internet relates to copying. Transmission of material via the Internet may or may not involve the automatic creation of copies. For example, a live open- or closed-circuit television broadcast does not involve copying, but computer network communications do. When material is sent electronically, temporary RAM copies are made in the computers through which the transmission passes. The version the recipient receives is a copy of the original material. This is the essence of how a digital network operates. The courts have consistently held that RAM copies impede the copyright owner’s reproduction rights (Armatas, 2008, p. 406).
Specifically related to online course development, the TEACH Act addresses time, storage, and dissemination of copyrighted material. In particular, the TEACH Act focuses on limiting the retention of copyright-protected works beyond the time required for the course. The Act also addresses outside interference with measures that copyright owners can take to control the storage and dissemination of their works (e.g., authentication logins). Generally, the institution’s information technology department is responsible for developing and implementing practices and procedures for compliance with the technologically oriented requirements of the TEACH Act (Enghagen, 2005, p. 83). The following table presents a few considerations related to uploading copyrighted works into an LMS course shell (Blackboard, 2000, p. 5):
The American Library Association Office for Information Technology’s exceptions for instructors etool guides you through the educational exceptions of the u.s. copyright law. http://librarycopyright.net/ etool/
Portion distribution time
Make sure the portions of copyrighted
works meet fair use guidelines. secure location within your LMS.Store copyrighted materials in a more than 15 days on the LMS course shell.Make copyrighted material available for no Use the fair use four factor criteria. Avoid putting copyrighted material
on your personal Web pages. Use the Availability from dates function in your LMS. If you are deciding whether or not to use copyrighted material, refer to the fair use four factor criteria: purpose and character of use, nature of copyrighted work, amount and substantiality used in comparison to the work as a whole, and the effect on potential market for or value of the work. Courts will look favorably on works that have been changed or modified from the original copyrighted work, which is defined as transformative use. Thus, transformative use should help you feel comfortable using copyrighted material to create digital presentations, media, or images.
You can approach the implementation of the TEACH Act in two ways. First, you can cite fair use and circumvent implementation of the TEACH Act and incorporate only public domain resources into online courses. Pursuing this path may mean limiting instructors to mostly historical rather than current resources. For subjects such as science, medicine, and technology, this approach is imprudent and does not align with the pursuit of federal research grant funding. Conversely, you may promulgate the TEACH Act, require permission to use material from copyright owners, and limit the number of distance learning course offerings (Armatas, 2008, p. 448). Securing permission to use a copyrighted work may take up to several months, depending on the situation. This timetable may overlap with the launch of a course. The following table provides guidelines that describe the portion limitations (which vary depending on the type of media) on a single copyrighted work:
media Fair use limits
Text Up to 10% of the original work or 1,000 words, whichever is less
Poems Up to 250 words but further limited to the following: Three poems or portions of poems by one poet or five poems or portions of poems by different poets from a single anthology
Music Up to 10% of the original work or 30 seconds, whichever is less
Photos and images Up to five works per artist or photographer or up to 10% or 15 works of a collection, whichever is less Database information Up to 10% or 2,500 fields or cell entries, whichever is less
References
Armatas, S. A. (2008). Distance learning and copyright: A guide to legal issues. Chicago: American Bar Association.
Blackboard. (2000). Copyright, fair use, and educational multimedia FAQ. Retrieved November 14, 2010, from http://www.ccsj.edu/blackboard/BB%20copyright_fair_use.pdf
Carnevale, D. (2003, March 28). Slow start for long-awaited easing of copyright restriction. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 49(29), A29-A31.
Enghagen, L. (2005). Fair use: Guidelines for educators. Newburyport, MA: Sloan Consortium. Gasaway, L. N. (2006). Get copyright right. Alexandria, VA: Special Libraries Association.
Simpson, C. (2005). Copyright catechism: Practical answers to everyday dilemmas. Worthington, OH: Linworth Publishing. Wherry, T. (2002). The librarian’s guide to intellectual property in the digital age: Patents, copyrights and trademarks.