Copyright & Fair Use Guidelines

What is Copyright?

Copyright is a legal form of protection that provides the author of any form of work the right to control how the work is used, as grounded in the U.S. Constitution. Copyright covers both published and unpublished works including books, images, movies, songs, poetry, computer software, and architecture. A piece of work does not have to be registered to be protected, it is protected the minute it is created. However, a work must be fixed, original, and showcase minimal creativity to be protected by copyright. The owner of the copyright is the author and expires 70 years after the author has passed away. If copyright owners wish to have their work shared, they must grant permission through licenses.

What is Fair Use?

According to the United States Copyright Office, Fair use is defined as a doctrine of law that “promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances” (United States Copyright Office, 2017c) Examples of fair use in the United States includes search engines, parodies, news reporting, research, etc. There is a permissible amount of copyrighted information that can be used by teachers and students. Relying on the fair use doctrine is highly not recommended in the classroom. Teachers are urged to use lawfully acquired course materials as a resource for instruction in their classroom. These materials may include textbooks, movies, videos, recordings, images, and worksheets purchased with licensure. If permitted to use the works and/or materials, teachers should only use what's necessary for the classroom environment and always include copyright notices. Furthermore, any copyrighted material purchased by teachers must only be obtainable by students that teacher instructs. Regarding virtual instruction, teachers must ensure copyrighted materials are only restricted to users in their online classroom and cannot be distributed outside the classroom and course page. In case teachers want students to read a particular article, it's strongly suggested that teachers provide the website links from pre-approved databases such as e-book collections and institutional library databases. If at any time teachers are having concerns about what materials to use in class, they should contact their Instructional Coach or Program Director.

Source: https://sites.umgc.edu/library/libhow/copyright.cfm