0.8 Universities and copyright  (Page 2/5)

Student creations belong to the student. If a professor were to use student work as part of their publications without notifying the student, it would be a case of copyright infringement. This is so even if the student is given full credit. If the student did not give permission for its publication, its use is infringement. A professor cannot argue that they hold copyright in the student’s work because the work took place only as part of a class assignment.

The large online databases of journal and newspaper articles found in most academic libraries are licensed for use by the members of the university that contracts it. However, every contract is different. Can an article from the database be placed on E-reserves, or inside a Blackboard class? Can a professor make 60 copies of an article to hand out during class? The answer varies according to the licensing contract. A license takes precedence over copyright. Librarians and other employees involved in licensing databases can find much useful information from LibLicense, an organization that provide information about licensing and also negotiating licenses. (Yale University Library Council on Library&Information Resources 2010). (External Link)

Online Teaching

Online instruction is an area of copyright concern for university campuses. “Online teaching” typically refers to classes that do not meet face-to-face, and in which all or most content is delivered through a web site or course management system such as Blackboard. Activities that are accepted in a face-to-face classroom are often not legal in the online environment. These activities include the “performance or display of a work by instructors or pupils in the course of face-to-face teaching activities” (§110) (U.S. Government) The works can be movies, artwork, photographs, literature, etc. The performance or display in a classroom permits “all of a nondramatic literary work” and “reasonable portions” of any other work. When a class is taught online, these exceptions for films no longer apply. The university can claim Fair Use for some content, but in many cases the material must be short and very specific.

The TEACH Act (or, the Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization Act) was passed in 2002 with the intention of “reconciling” online education with copyright law. It became §110(2) of the copyright law. The TEACH Act provides the opportunity for an instructor to show an entire nondramatic film (or other media) if the university has met a long list of requirements. The requirements include educating all students, staff, and faculty about copyright, having educational materials about copyright available and utilizing technology to ensure the student watching the film is unable to download and copy it. (Colorado University 2004) There are many more requirements, and many universities have chosen not to use the TEACH Act and instead rely on carefully defined Fair Use for displaying films and images in online education.

1. What copyright rights and responsibilities do students have?