Copyrighted Compliance for Online Course Materials

Sandra Selick

Center for Teaching and Learning with Technology

Fairleigh Dickinson University

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Teaching and Learning Center

• Sandra Selick, Director • Paul Younghouse, CID Florham campus (Barn)• Keith Williams, CID Metro (DH: id studio)

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DisclaimerPlease be aware that none of today’s presenters are experts in copyright law or interpretation of fair usage guidelines as they apply to the development of a class with online materials.

Please be aware that none of today’s presenters are experts in copyright law or interpretation of fair usage guidelines as they apply to the development of a class with online materials.

It is the intent of this presentation to…

• Make you aware of fair use issues that are important to understand when developing online teaching programs.

• Create a robust discussion on the issues.

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1. Educational uses of printed material are allowed by law, and therefore it is OK to post anything in my Webcampus course shell.

1. True

2. False

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2. Using a “small amount” of material is acceptable.

1. True

2. False

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How do we know?

• Both of these questions are FALSE.• There are questions you need to ask yourself

before you place material in your Webcampus course.

• Lawyers don’t always agree on this issue.• When in doubt, obtain permission or have your

students purchase the material at the bookstore or have it available for reserve at the library.

• Here are some guidelines that may be helpful…

Checkpoint 1

Is this material in the public domain?

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3. If there is no © symbol or copyright mark, the material is in public domain.

1. True

2. False

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FALSE

• All written materials or works of art are copyrighted as soon as they are created, by default.

• Copyright doesn’t last forever, however.

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4. If a document was published 100 years ago, it is in the public domain.

1. True

2. False

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FALSE

• The Copyright Term Extension Act – Copyright lasts for the life of the author + 70 years Corporate ownership, 120 years after creation or 95

years after publication, whichever date comes first.• Assume that anything created in the 20th or 21st century

is not public domain.

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5. I found a picture of the Mona Lisa on the Internet, can I use it in my online course? The Mona Lisa was painted in the 16th century.

1. True

2. False

Checkpoint 2

Has the copyright owner allowed some uses of the

material?

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6. It is never OK for me to use material published within the past 10 years.

1. True

2. False

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FALSE

• Some copyright owners may choose to give up some or all their rights and will explicitly tell you how to use the material. For example: Creative Commons licenses

• In those cases, you can use the work according to those given guidelines.

Checkpoint 3

Is the material already freely available to your

students?

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7. It is usually OK for me to link to a web page outside of my course shell, and ask my

students to read that page.

1. True

2. False

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TRUE

• If the material is available for free (no login or paid registration required), you can link to it.

• It is a good idea to have the link open in a new tab or window (doesn’t load inside your Webcampus course).

• Faculty can always come to TLC for help.

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8. It is OK for me to download a full-text article from our library databases, and place the article into my course shell.

1. True

2. False

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FALSE

• Do not download a full-text copy of the article and then place it in your Webcampus course.

• Prohibited by our database vendors.• If the material is in a library database from another

university, you may not download a full-text copy of the article and share it with your students. This violates the terms and conditions of the other university’s contract with the database vendors.

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9. It is OK for me to link to a full-text article from our library databases from within my course shell.

1. True

2. False

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TRUE

• If the material is available in our library databases, you may provide instructions to your students for accessing it, and in some cases provide a direct link. Some of our library databases provide “dynamic links”

which are created at the time you login and are customized to your session only.

Some of our library databases provide “static links” which allow you to link directly to the articles you want.

The best solution is always having your students locate the articles on their own so that they become comfortable with using our library databases.

• Faculty can always come to TLC for help.

Checkpoint 4

Can your use of the material be considered “fair

use?”

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10. If my purpose is educational and not-for-profit, I can use any material I like.

1. True

2. False

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FALSE

• Must be evaluated in an overall context in which the “Four Factors of Fair Use” are weighed together.

• Factor 1: The purpose and character of use. If the use is for non-commercial educational purposes, the use is more likely to be considered fair.

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11. It doesn’t matter if a work is a work of fact or fiction. Fair use applies to both kinds of

material equally.

1. True

2. False

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FALSE

• Must be evaluated in an overall context in which the “Four Factors of Fair Use” are weighed together.

• Factor 2: The nature of the copyrighted work. Use of fact-based works is more likely to be considered fair, whereas use of creative or opinion-based works is less likely to be considered fair.

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12. It’s always OK to use a small bit of copyrighted material.

1. True

2. False

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FALSE

• Must be evaluated in an overall context in which the “Four Factors of Fair Use” are weighted together.

• Factor 3: The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole. There are no clear-cut guidelines that you can apply. In some cases, use of a whole chapter would be allowed; in others, even use of a single paragraph may not be permitted depending on how the other factors weigh out.

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13. If a work is out of print, it’s OK for me to use it as nobody is going to lose any money.

1. True

2. False

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FALSE

• Must be evaluated in an overall context in which the “Four Factors of Fair Use” are weighed together.

• Factor 4: The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. If your use would serve to deprive the copyright owner of income, this weighs against fair use. If your reason for placing the material in Webcampus is to prevent the necessity of your students paying for a book, you may want to consider whether this factor weighs against fair use.

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It All Depends…

• There are no solid guidelines for applying the Four Factors of Fair Use.

• They are applied on a case-by-case basis, and reasonable people often disagree.

• Depending on the situation, some factors are weighted more heavily than others.

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14. In academic settings, a “casual” or one-time use of material is more likely to be

considered a “fair use” than material that is a fixed part of the curriculum.

1. True

2. False

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TRUE

• If you intend to use this material in more than one semester or include it in your syllabus, you should obtain permission.

• Many institutions advise faculty members to remove any copyrighted material from the course shell at the end of the semester.

Checkpoint 5

Can you obtain permission to use the material from the

copyright holder?

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15. It looks as if we can’t use anything in our syllabus other then paid textbooks and free web pages, unless the copyright owner died a long time ago.

1. True

2. False

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FALSE

• If your use cannot be considered a “fair use” or falls into the gray area, you should obtain permission from copyright holder.

• If the work is published, the copyright holder might be the author.

• You can try to obtain clearance to use the work by visiting the Copyright Clearance Center (http://www.copyright.com).

• You usually need to pay a fee to use the material.

Checkpoint 6

Make sure that you properly attribute the material that you use.

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FINAL STEP

• Make sure that you properly attribute any material that you use following APA or MLA, or some other standard accepted in your discipline.

• It also models good practice to our students.• If you cannot pay the licensing fee for permission to use

material, you can… Pass the cost on to your students by having the

material available for purchase at the bookstore. Find other copyright free material that will meet your

curricular goals.

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Take-Home Message

Better safe than sorry!