Copyright

What About Digital Media?

Lewis and Clark Community College encourages the appropriate and legal use of digital materials in the curriculum. This document discusses digital materials that may be used in your courses. Note that this document does not cover Library reserve materials, which are subject to a separate process.

The Internet is not the public domain. There are both uncopyrighted and copyrighted materials available. It is safest to assume that a work found on the Internet is copyrighted.

The same copyright protections exist for the author of a work regardless of whether the work is in a database, CD-ROM, bulletin board, or on the Internet. If you want to post materials to Blackboard, create links that take you directly to articles or websites. These materials should not be uploaded to courses as single units. The Library can create an electronic reserves page for your online class that will do this. For more information, call the Library at (618) 468-4301.

Many Materials are Available to Use

If you want to use digital materials such as text, images, audio and film clips, first look for materials that are available to use without requiring special permission:

Materials you create yourself, and for which you hold the copyright.
Materials that are in the public domain, either because the creator has expressly made them public domain, they were created by the federal government, or because they are sufficiently old.
Materials that have been made available by the creator under a license that allows the kind of use you want to make (for example, the Creative Commons license). Some universities have made material freely available and specifically allow faculty to copy and use them for non-commercial purposes (for example, the MIT Open Courseware initiative).

Need More Information?

Tool for helping determine if you can use digital work.

Fair Use

What is Fair Use?

Section 107 of U.S copyright law contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered fair, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:

The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.
The nature of the copyrighted work.
The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.
The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work.

Fair-Use Guidelines for Copying

One chapter of a book; not the entire work.
One article from a periodical or newspaper, not the entire issue.
One short story, short essay or short poem, whether or not from a collective work.
One chart, graph, diagram, drawing, cartoon or picture from a book, periodical, or newspaper.

What About Digital Media?

The same copyright protections exist for the author of a work regardless of whether the work is in a database, CD-ROM, bulletin board, or on the Internet.

If you want to post materials to Blackboard, create links that take you directly to articles or websites. These materials should not be uploaded to courses as single units. The Library can create an electronic reserves page for your online class that will do this. For more information, call the library at (618) 468-4301 .

The Internet is not the public domain. There are both uncopyrighted and copyrighted materials available. It is safest to assume a work is copyrighted.

Need More Information?

Tool to help determine if a work is in the Public Domain.

Tool to help determine if your use is Fair Use.

Online Courses

Online classrooms are defined as being a place for mediated learning in a closed (i.e. password protected) environment. Unlike the Web, which is public for all to use, closed environments restrict access to materials to those who have registered for a course.

The TEACH Act (2002) and the Fair Use provisions of the copyright law offer a high degree of flexibility to faculty members who wish to use copyrighted work within their online classroom. According to the TEACH Act, faculty members can use the following without seeking permission from the copyright holder:

Performances of non-dramatic literary (textbooks, novels, poetry) or musical works in their entirety. -- A streaming audio reading of a poem, for example. Or a streaming audio of The Beatles singing "Here Comes the Sun."
Performances of any other work (plays, movies) in reasonable and limited portions. For instance, a clip from a movie, or a short excerpt of a performed play (audio and/or video).
Displays of any work (dramatic or non-dramatic) in proportion to what would be used in a traditional classroom. A digital copy (PDF or HTML) of a novel, poem, textbook, newspaper story, play text, movie script, music lyrics, etc., in keeping with the amount allowed under the Fair Use doctrine.

To meet the TEACH Act requirements, the online course must be restricted to those in the class, the classroom must be moderated by an instructor, and "reasonable" technological measures must be taken to prevent the illegal distribution of the materials. Here are some suggestions to make any online course a "copyright-friendly" environment:

Whenever possible, link to a resource on the Web rather than copying it.
Audio and video files should be streaming files rather than downloadable ones.

Resources

http://www.copyright.gov/

http://www.copyright.com/

What About Digital Media?

Many Materials are Available to Use

Need More Information?

Fair Use

What is Fair Use?

Fair-Use Guidelines for Copying

What About Digital Media?

Need More Information?

Online Courses

Resources

Copyright

Fair Use

DMCA

TEACH Act

Tools