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Copyright for Educators: Copyright

Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States to the authors of “original works of authorship” that are fixed in a tangible form of expression.

An original work of authorship is a work that is independently created by a human author and possesses at least some minimal degree of creativity.

A work is “fixed” when it is captured (either by or under the authority of an author) in a sufficiently permanent medium such that the work can be perceived, reproduced, or communicated for more than a short time.

Copyright protection in the United States exists automatically from the moment the original work of authorship is fixed.

copyright.gov

A Message to Educators

There is no trick to Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative Commons - there are many rules and laws to follow, which you can learn from this guide. It is important for all educators to take the time to learn about these rules for several reasons:

For the students: Students are expected to follow copyright rules, so it's imperative to lead by example.

For the creators: Work deserves to be used fairly and given credit when it is due.

For you: Whether you use copyrighted works now or in the future, it's important to know the right resources to use and how to use them correctly.

If you have any questions, please reach out to the Library!

Copyright Clearance Center

Warner Library is a holder of the Copyright Clearance Center Licensing, allowing members of Eastern University to have access to many copyrighted materials.

Learn more: https://www.copyright.com/company-about/

Copyright

The purpose of copyright law is to give protection to authors of original works. Copyright law is also designed to promote science and the arts by facilitating the dissemination of knowledge.

TEACH Act

TEACH Act 

The TEACH Act (Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act of 2002) was signed into law in November, 2002.

This law allows instructors to use works that are protected by copyright (most works other than US government publications) in digital teaching settings without first obtaining permission from the copyright owner. This includes materials prepared for students in distance learning courses.

In order to qualify to use copyrighted materials under the TEACH Act, several conditions must be satisfied:

Faculty Responsibilities:

  • The material must be provided by an instructor and must be an integral part of the course curriculum.
  • The amount of material provided must be comparable to that typically displayed in a live classroom session. For certain works, the display of the entire work could be consistent with displays typically made in a live classroom setting (e.g., short poems or essays, or photographic images). Distribution of entire textbooks, course-packs or supplemental readings would not be authorized under the TEACH Act.
  • You must provide notice to students that materials distributed in the course may be subject to copyright protection.

Content adapted from Cornell University under CC BY-NC 4.0.

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