TEACH in Context

Background

Faculty and students will often want to incorporate some or all of the copyrighted work of others into course materials that are to be digitized and transmitted for distance education. In the past, this could sometimes be lawfully accomplished via the fair use provisions (17 U.S.C. 107) and/or the performance/display exemptions (917 U.S.C. 110(2)) of the copyright act. In November 2002, the performance and display exemptions of the copyright act were revised and updated to address the digital environment. The revised provisions facilitate digital educational use of materials without requiring copyright permission, subject to several conditions. The conditions are outlined at this website, but faculty and students are encouraged to seek advice from their university attorneys and distance education experts.

This recent distance education update of copyright law is called the Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act (TEACH). The TEACH exemption is one of several options faculty and students have when using copyrighted works in their course materials. Some background on copyright law and the options available to faculty and students are set out below.

Federal law automatically gives copyright protection to "original works of authorship" at the moment they are "fixed in a tangible medium." In most cases, the copyright belongs to the person who authors or creates text, images, software code, video, audio, and layout ("works") for distance education. Use of the works of others must comply with copyright law. There are basically four ways to do this:

1. Determine whether the work is protected by copyright. Some works are not protected by copyright because they have entered the public domain or are not subject to copyright. See Works Not Protected by Copyright.

2. Qualify for "fair use" of the work. The law allows limited use of works without the copyright holder's permission if four conditions are satisfied. See TEACH and Fair Use and Fair Use Considerations Worksheet

3. Qualify under TEACH
See information on this Website.

4. Get permission from the copyright holder. It may take considerable time to do this and may require a fee or royalties. See, Permissions Guide.