The TEACH Act.

 

                  In November 2002 President Bush signed into law an amendment of the U.S. copyright laws that changes the rules on how copyrighted materials may be used in distance education, especially using online technologies.  The law, called the TEACH Act (Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act of 2002), expands our ability to place copyrighted materials on websites used for teaching (such as Blackboard), without requesting permission from the copyright owner, but imposes significant restrictions on how those materials can be used.

 

                  While there are several technological issues that must be addressed before we can take full advantage of the new rules, I thought it important for all faculty to be aware that the law has changed in ways that may affect how we teach our classes.

 

                  How does the Act affect Wayne State faculty members and their students?

 

                  At the outset, it is important to recognize that the Act does not displace the current rules concerning fair use of copyrighted materials.  That is, if your use of copyrighted materials was previously within fair use, this new Act does nothing to change that.  The Act, to the extent we are able to take advantage of it, only expands our ability to use copyrighted materials in teaching.

 

                  In addition, materials in digital format that the University has licensed, such as e-books, may continue to be used as permitted by the license agreement.

 

                  The following points are intended to provide some insight into the implications of the TEACH Act:

 

1)      In order for the University to enjoy the benefits of the Act, it is obligated to institute policies concerning copyright, and to provide information about the copyright laws to its faculty, staff and students.  We are in the process of formulating the required policies and statement of information.

 

2)      The Act grants rights to use materials in distance education activities.  Most significantly, it permits teachers to make available via a restricted website:

a)       the performance of non-dramatic literary and musical works; this would include providing an audio file of the reading of a poem or speech, or a recording of a piece of music;

b)      the performance of Òreasonable and limited portionsÓ[1] of other works; this would include a video clip of some portion of a movie or television program, or a clip showing the performance of some portion of a dramatic work or a choreographic work;

c)       the display of a work, as long as it is limited to an amount comparable to displays that typically occur in a classroom situation; this would include showing artworks, photographs, and other visual works via a website, including works that are incorporated in lecture slides made available on the Web; it would also include providing brief textual works, such as poetry; but it would not extend to making an entire textbook available online without either permission or a license.

 

3)      The authorization to engage in the performances and displays described above is subject to stringent limitations, including:

a)       Òto the extent technologically feasible,Ó the materials must be available only to students officially enrolled in the course in question; thus, the Act does not authorize the placement of materials on an unrestricted website;

b)      the materials must be protected with technology that Òreasonably preventsÓ students from retaining the materials for longer than a Òclass session,Ó and from disseminating the materials to others.

 

4)      It is permissible to make digital versions of analog works (e.g. by scanning and digitizing a picture or text) and to make those versions available under the same restrictions applicable to pre-existing digital works, but only if the material is not available to the University in a digital format. 

 

5)      Students using the materials must be informed that the materials are protected by the copyright laws.  A statement directed at students is being prepared for the Blackboard site.

 

6)      In using copyrighted materials as allowed by the Act, the University may not interfere with any copyright protection technology that copyright owners have placed on their materials.

 

                  The American Library Association has produced a detailed summary and discussion of this Act, available at http://www.ala.org/washoff/teach.html, while a shorter summary is available at http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm01610.pdf.  The actual text of both the TEACH act and the complete US Copyright law can be found at www.copyright.gov/title17/.

 


[1] This phrase, like several other phrases in quotation marks that follow, comes directly from the text of the TEACH Act.  It remains to be seen how the courts will interpret these phrases.