Fair Use is legal code written into the United States law to provide a balance (under certain conditions) to a copyright holders exclusive rights. It is based upon a four-factor analysis of a proposed use of a copyrighted work. UNG subscribes to the University System of Georgia Fair Use checklist as a tool for helping to determine if a proposed use would be in compliance or an infringement of copyright law. The Fair Use statute notes some specific instances where Fair Use may be favored, such as parody, commentary, criticism, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
The USG provides specific guidance in addressing how faculty may use copyrighted content in an online environment. The following information is adapted from the USG policy on Fair Use.
The determination of whether a use of a copyrighted work is within fair use depends upon making a reasoned and balanced application of the four fair use factors set forth in Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act.
Those factors are
An excerpt of a copyrighted work may be made and/or distributed according to the following guidelines:
This legislation, the Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization Act (TEACH Act), sets forth guidelines for providing online access to materials, which are performed or displayed. It does not, however, cover making textual materials available to students.
This act “covers distance education as well as face-to-face teaching which has an online, web-enhanced, transmitted or broadcast component.”
The TEACH Act has specific requirements which include, as noted below, a standard copyright notice to be in place in course sites and specific guidelines for performance and display of electronic materials.
Faculty must place the following notice prominently within each course site:
“The materials on this course website 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.”
The following guidelines apply to the performance or display of electronic materials placed within courseware maintained by the institution.
Copyrighted electronic materials should be available for a prescribed time period only, normally a single class session. This can be achieved through control of the content via password or time limits applied to the internal hyperlinks or folder access.
Copyrighted works such as graphics, photographs, short poems, etc., in the online classroom must be comparable to that typically displayed in a face-to-face classroom.
How much of a copyrighted work may be performed without obtaining a license to do so depends on the type of work. The following amounts may be performed:
Reasonable measures must be taken to prevent retention and / or dissemination of electronic works for longer than the prescribed time period, generally a single class session. Copyrighted images and graphics should be made available in a format limiting printing and saving controls. Copyrighted electronic materials such as video and audio should be streamed to avoid the downloading and saving of the file.
Terri Bell
Copyright Coordinator and Digital Archivist
706-867-2738
terri.bell@ung.edu
The information presented here is intended for informational purposes and should not be construed as legal advice. If you have legal questions, please contact the Office of General Counsel.