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.
E. 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 c
ompilations;
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