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Copyright Guidelines
Copyright Law, the Teach Act, and 'Fair Use' Guidelines in Distance and Classroom Learning:Much of the material used in educational programs in the classroom or through 'transmission' is protected under copyright law. Copyright protection vests automatically in nearly all works that are 'original works of authorship' and 'fixed in any tangible medium of expression' (Section 102 covers what is protected). Consequently, most writings, images, artworks, videotapes, musical works, sound recordings, motion pictures, computer programs, and other works are protected by copyright law.
When educators use any of these works in their teaching, they are using copyright protected materials. Among the rights of copyright owners are rights to make copies and rights to make public performances and public displays of the works. An assembled or even dispersed group of students may well constitute the 'public' under the law. Consequently, educators frequently incur possible violations of owners' rights whenever they copy materials as handouts, upload works to websites, 'display' slides or other still images, or 'perform' music, videos, and other works. In the context of traditional, face-to-face teaching, educators long have debated the application of 'fair use' to making copies, and the Copyright Act since 1976 has included a relatively simple and broad provision allowing 'performances' and 'displays' in the face-to-face classroom setting (Section 110(1)).
The rules for distance education, however, are significantly different. Both the meaning of fair use and the details of the specific statute (Section 110(2)) become much more rigorous when the materials are uploaded to websites or transmitted by instructional television systems. Because they are transmitted anywhere, and are easily downloaded, altered, or further transmitted by students and other users, these activities all pose possible threats to the interests of copyright owners.