COPYRIGHT COMPLIANCE ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE
This administrative procedure contains a summary of the major provisions found
in the federal copyright law and guidelines concerning reproduction of
copyrighted works by educators. This summary is not intended to replace the
law/guidelines, which should be referred to when questions regarding
implementation arise. Copies of this procedure shall be furnished to all faculty
members. Faculty teaching any form of distance learning or on-line course must
carefully review and comply with Part III of the procedure in addition to all
other parts.
I. GENERAL RULE AND COPYRIGHT OWNERSHIP
A. Presumption of copyright. Works, in any medium (written, recorded,
computer-stored, etc.),
should generally be presumed to be protected by copyright
law, regardless of whether the work
displays a copyright notice, the symbol “ ©,” or other
express reservation of rights.
B. Rule against copyright violations. Except as otherwise permitted by
this policy and applicable
law, school employees shall not reproduce, perform or display
copyrighted works without
permission of the owner.
C. U.S. Government works. United States government works are not subject
to copyright protection,
and may freely be copied.
D. Public domain. Works that are in the public domain due to expiration
of copyrights, as provided by
law, may be freely reproduced, performed or displayed.
E. Student works. Students are the owners of exclusive rights to works
that they create.
F. Works made for hire. Works created by school employees in the course
and scope of their
employment are “works made for hire,” and the school unit
retains exclusive rights to such works,
unless otherwise agreed in writing by the Board.
G. Distance learning. All rights to works created by school employees in
the course of teaching
distance learning courses are owned by the school unit that
employs the individual(s) who created the
work, unless otherwise agreed in writing by the employing
school unit.
II. DEFINITIONS
A. “FAIR USE”
A copyright provides the owner with the exclusive rights of reproduction,
adaptation, publication, performance and display of the covered work. The
copyright law contains certain “fair use” provisions that permit limited
reproduction of materials based on four criteria:
1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether
such is of a commercial nature or is for
nonprofit educational purposes;
2. The nature of the copyrighted work;
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in
relation to the copyrighted work as a whole;
and
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for or
value of the copyrighted work.
B. “FACE-TO-FACE INSTRUCTION”
Performance or display of any copyrighted work by teachers or students without
permission from the copyright holder is permissible under the following
circumstances:
1. The work must be performed or displayed in a face-to-face
setting by a teacher or by students;
and
2. The performance or display must be in the course of
teaching activities, in a classroom or a similar
educational setting.
Examples of performances or displays falling under this exception include
reading a play in the classroom, singing a song in a classroom or showing a
filmstrip or video (provided that it has been purchased or lawfully copied).
The following sections summarize the permissible or “fair use” of different
types of copyrighted works. Because the law and technological applications
continue to evolve, school unit employees are responsible for ensuring that the
intended use of materials does not conflict with the copyright law/guidelines
and for informing students of such issues as appropriate.
III. DISTANCE EDUCATION - TRANSMISSION OF PERFORMANCES AND DISPLAYS TO REMOTE
SITES
The following may be transmitted by any device or process, including the DOE
Distance Learning Network, interactive television or Internet courses:
• Performance of nondramatic literary works (e.g. novels, short stories, or
poems) or musical works, or
• Reasonable and limited portions of any other work, or
• Display of a work in an amount comparable to that which is typically displayed
in the course of a live
classroom only if:
A. The performance or display is made by, at the direction of, or under the
actual supervision of an
instructor as an integral part of a class session
offered as a regular part of instructional activities;
B. The performance or display is directly related and of material assistance to
the teaching content of
the transmission;
C. The transmission is made solely for, and, to the extent technologically
feasible, the reception of such
transmission is limited to students officially enrolled
in the particular course and employees of the
school unit as part of their duties;
D. Technological measures are implemented that reasonably prevent retention of
the work in accessible
form by recipients of the transmission for longer than
the class session and prevent unauthorized
further dissemination of the work in accessible form by
such recipients to others;
E. There is no interference with technological measures used by copyright owners
to prevent such
retention or unauthorized further dissemination of
materials; and
F. Students in such courses must be given notice that materials used in
connection with the course may
be subject to copyright protection.
IV. PRINT MATERIALS
A. Permissible Uses
1. A single copy of the following made for use in teaching or
in preparation to teach a class:
a. A chapter from a book;
b. An article from a periodical or
newspaper;
c. A short story, short essay or
short poem, whether or not from a collective work; and
d. A chart, graph, diagram, drawing,
cartoon or picture from a book, periodical or newspaper.
2. Multiple copies made for classroom use (not to exceed one
copy per student in a course) from the
following:
a. A complete poem, if it has fewer
than 250 words and does not exceed two printed pages in
length, or an
excerpt of not more than 250 words from a longer poem;
b. A complete article, story or essay
of less than 2,500 words;
c. Prose excerpts not exceeding 10
percent of the whole or 1,000 words, whichever is less;
d. One chart, graph, diagram, cartoon
or picture per book or per issue of a periodical; and
e. An excerpt from a children’s book
containing up to 10 percent of the words found in the text
and not more
than two printed pages of the published work.
3. One transparency for classroom instruction may be made
from consumable materials such as
workbooks, exercises, activity
sheets, etc.
4. All permitted copying must include appropriate credits,
including the author, title, date, copyright
notice and any other pertinent
information.
B. Prohibited Uses
1. More than one work or two excerpts from a single author
copied during one class term;
2. More than three works from a collective work or periodical
volume copied during one class term;
3. More than nine sets of multiple copies made for
distribution to students in one class term;
4. Copies made to create, replace or substitute for
purchasing anthologies or collective works;
5. Copies made of “consumable” works, such as workbooks,
exercises, standardized tests and
answer sheets (except as noted in A.3
above);
6. The same work copied from term to term;
7. The same material copied for more than one particular
course, or copied every time a particular
course is offered, unless permission
is obtained from the copyright owner;
8. Copies made when there is sufficient time prior to the
intended use to obtain permission from the
copyright owner; and
9. No charges may be made to students beyond the actual cost
of photocopying.
V. COMPUTER SOFTWARE
A. All software is protected by copyright law; any unauthorized copying of
software is illegal and may
subject the copier to substantial civil or criminal
penalties.
B. All software purchased for use in the school unit must be approved by the
Superintendent/Building
Principal/Technology Coordinator. Only the Superintendent/his
or her designee may obtain and sign
software licensing agreements and duplication rights
agreements. All terms of such
licensing/duplication agreements must be observed by all
school unit employees and students.
C. Software purchased by the school unit for classroom, lab, media center and
office use remains the
property of the school unit and may be used only in
school-sponsored programs and activities.
D. The Superintendent/Technology Coordinator is responsible for reviewing and
supervising
compliance with all software license agreements. The
Superintendent/Technology Coordinator shall
retain all license agreements and modifications thereto.
C. Permissible Uses
1. One archival (back-up) copy of copyrighted software may be
made by authorized employees
(unless a licensing agreement
prohibits copying for any purpose);
2. Software may be used on a networked computer system as
authorized by the license or if written
permission is obtained from the
owner;
3. Software may be loaded on multiple equipment to the extent
authorized by the license or written
permission has been obtained from the
owner; and
4. Preview software may be evaluated for a reasonable
evaluation period before being purchased or
returned.
F. Prohibited Uses
1. Illegal copies of copyrighted software programs made or
used on school equipment;
2. Copies made of preview software;
3. Use of software on a networked computer system not
intended for network use without written
permission from the owner;
4. Multiple loading of software not specifically licensed for
multi-loading without written permission
from the owner;
5. Multiple copies made of copyrighted software (beyond an
authorized archival copy);
6. Making any unlicensed copies of printed documentation
accompanying copyrighted software;
7. Making unlicensed copies of software for sale, loan,
transmission or gift to other users; and
8. Copies made of locally produced adaptations or
modifications of copyrighted software for any
purpose.
Any employee or student who becomes aware of unauthorized copying of school
software shall inform the Technology Coordinator or Building Principal.
VI. INTERNET
The rights of the owner of copyrighted material on the Internet are the same as
the rights of the owner of traditional materials. Unless there is a clear
statement that art, photos, text and sounds are “public domain” and available
for free use, it should be assumed that the material is copyrighted. All the
criteria for “fair use” apply to works on the Internet just as they apply to
other materials. The ease of copying materials from the Internet should not be
used as an excuse for violating copyrights.
VII. OFF-AIR TELEVISION RECORDING
A. Permissible Uses
1. Off-air recordings may be made only at the request of and
used by individual teachers;
2. Off-air recording of broadcast programs available to the
general public without charge may be
made and retained for a period not to
exceed 45 calendar days after the date of recording. The
following additional requirements
must also be met:
a. The recording may be used once by
the individual teachers in the course of relevant teaching
activities
and repeated once during the first ten consecutive school days in the 45-day
retention
period.
b. Following the first 10 consecutive
school days, the recording may only be used for teacher
evaluation
purposes (i.e., to determine whether the broadcast program should be included in
the
curriculum).
c. Following the 45-day retention
period, the recording must be erased or destroyed immediately
unless
written permission is obtained from the copyright owner to keep and use the
program in
teaching/learning activities.
3. A limited number of copies may be produced from each
off-air recording to meet the legitimate
educational needs of teachers. Such
copies are subject to the same guidelines as the original copy.
4. An off-air recording need not be used in its entirety, but
the recording may not be altered, edited,
combined or merged. All copies must
include the copyright notice of the broadcast program.
B. Prohibited Uses
1. Recording broadcast programs in anticipation of requests;
2. Recording broadcast programs when there is sufficient time
prior to the scheduled program to
obtain permission from the copyright
owner;
3. Recording programs from pay/satellite television channels
(HBO, Cinemax, Disney, etc.);
4. Using or retaining recordings beyond the 45-day retention
period without written permission;
5. Recording the same program more than once for the same
teacher (regardless of how many times
the program may be broadcast); and
6. Altering the program from the original content in any way
(although the entire program need not be
viewed).
VIII. USE OF PRE-RECORDED VIDEOS
Pre-recorded videos include commercially available videos marked “For Home Use
Only” (such as feature films), including VHS tapes, DVD disks, filmstrips, etc.
A. Permissible Uses
Pre-recorded videos may be used in “face-to-face instruction” provided that the
viewing utilizes a lawfully-made copy rented or purchased by the school unit.
B. Prohibited Uses
1. Videos may not be used for entertainment, filler,
assemblies, fundraising, public viewing, or any
other purpose without written
permission of the copyright owner and permission of the building
principal.
2. Videos may not be used when a written contract
specifically prohibits use in classroom or direct
situations.
3. Videos may not be borrowed from individuals or other
schools.
4. Videos may not be copied.
IX. MUSIC AND THEATER PERFORMANCES
Prior written permission must be obtained whenever copyrighted plays and musical
numbers are to be performed or whenever copyrighted music is used as part of a
performance.
X. EDUCATIONAL USES OF MUSIC
A. Permissible Uses
1. Emergency copies to replace purchased copies which for any
reason are not available for an
imminent performance provided that
purchased replacement copies shall be substituted in due
course.
2. For academic purposes other than performance, multiple
copies of excerpts of works may be
made provided that:
a. The excerpts do not constitute a
performable unit (section, movement or aria) or more than ten
percent of
the entire work;
b. No more than one copy per student
in the class is made; and
c. The copyright notice appears on
the copies.
3. For academic purposes other than performance, a single
copy of an entire performable unit
(section, movement or aria) may be
made by the teacher for scholarly research or in preparation
to teach a class provided that:
a. The work is confirmed by the
copyright owner to be out of print;
b. The work is unavailable except in
a larger work; and
c. The copyright notice appears on
the copy.
4. Printed copies that have been purchased may be edited or
simplified provided that the
fundamental character of the work is
not distorted. Lyrics may not be altered or added, if none
exist.
5. A single copy of recordings of performances by students
may be made for evaluation or rehearsal
purposes and may be retained by the
school unit or an individual teacher.
6. A single copy of a sound recording (album, tape, cassette
or CD) or copyrighted music may be
made from sound recordings owned by
the school unit or an individual teacher for the purpose of
constructing aural exercises or
examinations. The copy may be retained by the school unit or an
individual teacher. This pertains
only to the copyright of the music itself and not to any copyright
which may exist in the sound
recording.
B. Prohibited Uses
1. Copy to create, replace or substitute for purchasing
anthologies, collective works and
compilations;
2. Copy “consumable” works, such as workbooks, exercises,
standardized tests and answer sheets;
3. Copy for the purpose of performance (except as noted in
A.1); and
4. Copy to substitute for the purchase of music (except as
noted in A.1-2).
Cross Reference: EGAD – Copyright Compliance
Legal Reference: 17 U.S.C.A. § 101 et seq.
P.L. 107-273 § 13301 (TEACH Act of 2002)
DATE ADOPTED: July 1, 2003