Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization
TEACH Act Introduction
Designed to balance needs of distance learners, educators, and copyright holders.
Applies to accredited, non-profit educational institutions that meet requirements.
Enables and facilitates the legal use of copyrighted materials for distance educational purposes.
Potential Benefits Under the Act
Increased range of materials are available for
distance learning environments.
Distance learning sessions can be conducted
from virtually any location.
Students and teachers have greater freedoms
for storing, copying, and digitizing materials.
Requirements for Using
Copyrighted Materials & Act
Exemptions – synopsis
Institution must be accredited & non-profit
Materials MUST be:
Part of mediated instructional activities.
Limited to the specific number of enrolled
students.
Used for a “live” or asynchronous class session.
Limited to reasonable portions as compared to use
in a live classroom.
The Act Exemptions
The Act does not specifically extend to:
Electronic Reserves, course packs, or interlibrary loans.
Commercial document libraries.
Textbooks or digital content provided under license.
Converted materials from analog to digital format.
THE ACT DOES NOT SUPERSEDE FAIR USE
Three Key Guidelines
Single Copying for Teachers
Multiple Copies for Classroom Use
Educational Uses of Music
* Copying applies to textbook and periodicals
Single Copying
A single copy can be made for scholarly
research or for teaching purposes from any of
the following:
A chapter from a text
An article from a periodical or newspaper
A short story/essay/poem
A chart/graph/diagram/picture from a
book, periodical, or newspaper
Multiple Copies
Multiple copies may be made for classroom
use or discussion – providing that copies:
Meet the tests of brevity and spontaneity
Meet the cumulative test
Each copy includes notice of copyright
Music
There are five permitted uses and five
prohibited uses of music for educational
purposes.
There may be occurrences of copying that
do not fall within the guidelines.
Teachers should refer to school policy and
Fair Use guidelines when in doubt.
Permitted Uses – synopsis *
1. Emergency copying to replace purchased copies
that are not immediately available.
2. Multiple copies for academic reasons other than
performances.
3. Purchased printed copies may be edited
providing that the original work is not distorted
or modified.
4. A single copy of student recordings made for
rehearsal or evaluation may be retained.
5. A single copy of audio exercises or examinations
my be retained. * See Act for specific details
Conclusion/Summary
Schools are not required to use the
TEACH Act; it is an option.
Distance learning classrooms have
different rules and stipulations.
Single Copying and Multiple Copying.
Music as an educational medium.
Fair Use.
Our policies and procedures.
Example of Single Copy Use
An on-line English teacher copy’s a portion
of an article for the purposes of
demonstrating the effectiveness of writing
prose or how to interpret the mechanics of
public writing.
Refer to Title 17 for
explicit clarifications
Example of Multiple Copies Use
An on-line English teacher is conducting a
course on poetry.
The teacher copy’s a portion of a source and
distributes it to the students enrolled in the
course to address a question generated in
class.
The copies have been subjected to the tests of
brevity and spontaneity.
Refer to Title 17 for explicit
clarifications
Example of Music Use
A history teacher is discussing the correlations
between music lyrics and historic events.
The teacher selects music clips to share with
students to demonstrate those correlations.
Refer to Title 17 for
explicit clarifications
References
American Library Association. (2013). The TEACH Act and Some Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/advocacy/copyright/teachact/faq#scope
Copyright Clearance Center. (2005). The TEACH Act; New Roles, Rules and Responsibilities for Academic Institutions. Retrieved from https://kodiak.wne.edu/content/enforced/23525-ED-615-51-M20132/CR-Teach-Act.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=IrsDgomXDd9GU6Ia2RkNX8a7i
Cornell University. (2012). Title 17 Copyrights. Retrieved from www.copyright.gov/title17/circ92.pdf
University of Texas. (2007). Copyright Crash Course. Retrieved fromhttp://copyright.lib.utexas.edu/teachact.html#toolkit