Copyright and Fair Use in an Online or Face to Face Classroom

The Copyright Act (17 U.S. Code 110[1]) allows for educators to display (show) and perform (show or play) an other's work, regardless of medium, in a classroom.

The Teach Act (17 U.S. Code 110[2]) attempts to craft online educators' rights to make copies of performances and displays, in a way that is more in line with the rights of those teaching face-to-face. However, due to the nature of online learning that requires digital copies of works be made and posted for accessibility, such materials must be edited down, or cut into clips (audio or audiovisual) of "reasonable and limited proportions."

Section 17 U.S. Code 110[1-2] Condensed for a Flagler College Classroom

Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, the following are not infringements of copyright:

(1) performance or display of a work by instructors or pupils in the course of face-to-face teaching activities of a nonprofit educational institution, in a classroom or similar place devoted to instruction, unless, in the case of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, the performance, or the display of individual images, is given by means of a copy that was not lawfully made under this title, and that the person responsible for the performance knew or had reason to believe was not lawfully made;

(2)…the performance of a nondramatic literary or musical work or reasonable and limited portions of any other work, or display of a work in an amount comparable to that which is typically displayed in the course of a live classroom session, by or in the course of a transmission,

(A) the performance or display is made by, at the direction of, or under the actual supervision of an instructor as an integral part of a class session offered as a regular part of the      systematic mediated instructional activities of a governmental body or an accredited nonprofit educational institution;

(B) the performance or display is directly related and of material assistance to the teaching content of the transmission;

(C) the transmission is made solely for, and, to the extent technologically feasible, the reception of such transmission is limited to—

(i) students officially enrolled in the course for which the transmission is made; or

(ii) officers or employees of governmental bodies as a part of their official duties or employment; and

            (D) the transmitting body or institution

(i) institutes policies regarding copyright, provides informational materials to faculty, students, and relevant staff members that accurately describe, and promote compliance with, the laws of the United States relating to copyright, and provides notice to students that materials used in connection with the course may be subject to copyright protection; and

(ii) in the case of digital transmissions—

(I) applies technological measures that reasonably prevent—

(aa) retention of the work in accessible form by recipients of the transmission from the transmitting body or institution for longer than the class session; and

(bb) unauthorized further dissemination of the work in accessible form by such recipients to others; and

(II) does not engage in conduct that could reasonably be expected to interfere with technological measures used by copyright owners to prevent such retention or unauthorized further dissemination…

None of the information or suggestions in this guide constitutes legal counsel. This guide offers only a presentation and interpretation of how portions of 17 U.S. Code might be properly appropriated so that copyrighted works might be reproduced, digitally copied, displayed, performed, or otherwise made accessible to students in both face-to-face and online teaching environments.

All information in this guide is adapted from the University of Texas Libraries’ Fair Use and TEACH Act library guides. Accessed June 22, 2020 @ https://guides.lib.utexas.edu/fairuse/home and http://guides.lib.utexas.edu/copyright/teachact