Author's Rights, Copyright and Fair Use

FSU Policy: Reserves & Copyright

• Materials which may be placed on Reserve without obtaining copyright permission:

  • Exams
  • Lecture notes
  • Most government publications

• Portions of copyrighted materials that may be photocopied or scanned and placed on electronic reserve:

  • A chapter from a book
  • An article from a periodical or newspaper
  • A short story, essay, or short poem
  • A chart, graph, diagram, drawing, cartoon or picture from a book, periodical or newspaper

• Copyrighted materials that may not be photocopied or scanned and placed on reserve:

  • Pages from works intended to be "consumable" in course of study or teaching. These include workbooks, exercises, standardized tests, test booklets and answer sheets.
  • An entire book, whether in print or out-of-print

• Length of time photocopied/scanned materials may be on reserve:

  • Photocopies of copyrighted materials may be placed on reserve one semester only without permission
  • If the instructor wishes to keep these materials on reserve for more than one consecutive semester, permission from the copyright holder must be requested
    • Once the request has been made the material can remain on reserve pursuant to the copyright holder's response.
    • If permission is not granted than the material must be taken off reserve.

• Copyright permission is needed:

  • When a journal article, book chapter or portion of a work is on reserve for consecutive semesters.
  • When multiple articles from one issue of a journal are needed for reserve during the same semester.
  • When multiple chapters from a book are needed during one semester.
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FSU Policy: The TEACH Act

This policy was developed to address the requirements of the Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization Act (TEACH Act), signed into law November 2, 2002.

What is TEACH?

TEACH is part of the larger Justice Reauthorization legislation (H.R. 2215) that updates copyright law to broaden instructors' legal use of copyrighted materials in online instruction at accredited nonprofit educational institutions. 

Policy

1.  The TEACH Act permits:

• Performances of nondramatic literary works;

• Performances of nondramatic musical works;

• Performances of any other work, including dramatic works and audiovisual works, but only in "reasonable and limited portions"; and

• Displays of work "in an amount comparable to that which is typically displayed in the course of a live classroom session."

2.  The following works are excluded by the TEACH Act:

• Works that are marketed "primarily for performance or display as part of the mediated instructional activities transmitted via digital networks"; and

• Performances or displays given by means of copies "not lawfully made and acquired" under the U.S. Copyright Act, if the educational institution "knew or had reason to believe" that they were not lawfully made and acquired.

• Work originally produced in analog format cannot be digitized under the following circumstances:

  • The amount converted is limited to the amount appropriate for the instructional activities [consistent with Section 111(2)]; and

  • A digital version of the work is not "available to the institution," or is secured behind technological protection preventing accessibility in the distance-education program [consistent with Section 111(2)]

3.  Materials may be used under the following conditions:

• The work or performance used is "at the direction of, or under the actual supervision of an instructor."  
• The work or performance used is "an integral part of a class session offered as a regular part of the systematic, mediated instructional activities" of the university.

Procedure

• Faculty will follow the TEACH Act guidelines for the use of copyrighted work included in their online, web-enhanced, or hybrid web based course sites.  
• Course syllabi must include the following statement: "The materials found in this course are only for the use of students enrolled in this course for purposes associated with this course and may not be retained or further disseminated. Works that do not meet the above conditions must qualify as "Fair Use" or permission must be granted from the copyright holder(s).  
• Framingham State College technology officials will maintain online course materials on a secure server and require students to authenticate using Framingham State College usernames and passwords to access their course websites.

TEACH Act Resource Links

Summary of the TEACH Act of 2002

Teach Act Guidelines

Basic TEACH Checklist

Full Text of the TEACH Act (Legal Information Institute)

Authors' (Creators') Rights

The importance of authorship to the spread of knowledge is recognized in the U.S. Constitution, which authorizes Congress “To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.” This language is the basis for both copyright and patent law in the United States. Patent law deals with inventors whose discoveries represent progress in the “useful Arts.” Copyright law deals with authors whose writings represent progress in “science,” by which the founders meant knowledge and learning.