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