Copyright and Intellectual Property

  

Faculty teaching online courses face the exciting prospect of designing, maintaining, and conducting courses in an ever-developing medium. While this medium opens new, unlimited opportunities, it also poses many questions about how to present materials to students within the legal parameters of copyright laws.

Copyright laws Links to an external site. exist in the United States to protect the rights of the creators of original works such as novels, films, musical works, photographs, etc. The laws grant the copyright owner the exclusive rights to reproduce, create a derivative work, distribute, perform, and display the copyrighted material. In addition, the copyright owner can determine who is authorized to use the work. Copyright is automatic once the work is captured in a fixed format (e.g., text or recording), and the copyright symbol is not required in order to signify that the work has been copyrighted.

As you’re developing your online course, you may want to include content such as music, text, graphics, illustrations, articles, and photographs, all items that are protected under copyright law. Unless specifically stated somewhere within the work that copying or duplication is allowed without approval, permission to use a work is the safest course of action. For specific information related to copyright at academic institutions, watch the brief Copyright on Campus Links to an external site. video created by the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), a not-for-profit organization that provides licensing for the reproduction and distribution of copyrighted materials. Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission.

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If you locate a work that you would like to use in your course, do not immediately assume your request to the copyright owner will be denied. In fact, it is surprising how many faculty are granted permission to use materials upon their first request. If you request to use a work and receive permission to do so, be sure to keep a record for your files. To help manage these permissions, we recommend that you create a folder called copyright permissions in your Files. Place a copy of each permission you receive in this folder.

A model copyright permission letter is available for your use.

If you are unable to obtain copyright permission, seek an alternative solution such as exploring the many resources for open or free content that are listed below in the Instructional Strategies and Best Practices section.

If you really feel that you want to use this copyrighted work, you may see if the doctrine of fair use (described below) applies to your situation. 

Fair Use

The Fair Use doctrine is a provision of copyright law designed to allow the limited use of copyrighted work without the permission of the copyright owner. It was developed with education in mind and is specifically applicable to teaching, research, scholarship, comment, criticism, or news reporting.

Four specific factors must be considered in each instance to determine if Fair Use applies. Each of the four factors must be applied and weighed together to make a case for Fair Use:

• Purpose must be for non-profit, educational use
• Nature of the material used (factual vs. fictional)
• Amount of material used (the percentage of a work used in relation to the whole)
• Effect on the current market as well as the future, potential market, or value of the work

When including portions of copyrighted materials under the Fair Use guidelines, you must identify the following information for each piece:

1. The source from which the material was taken
2. The copyright holder
3. Year of the material's publication
4. Copyright notice ( i.e., The '©' symbol)

Review the <Replace with Institution Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia> provided by the legal department at <Replace - Institution Name>. These pages provide common copyright questions and answers that you are most likely to encounter while teaching online.

The key to successfully navigating these guidelines is to know and understand your rights and responsibilities as an online instructor. The safest course of action is to always request permission to use a work. 

Intellectual Property

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Instructional Strategies & Best Practices

• Determine if there is content available to use in your online course. 
  There are several resources for you to consider using for your online course, including publisher materials and Open Educational Resources.
• Explore publisher content.
• Ask your publisher if they have resources in addition to your textbook, including supplemental online resources or course cartridges that may be integrated into your online course. Some of these resources are free but most are an additional cost to students. Publishers may also provide test banks that can be imported directly into your course. 
• Explore Open Educational Resources.
• The Center for Distributed Learning's Diigo social bookmarking pages links to several open educational resources for you to explore. These materials are either in the public domain or have Creative Commons licensing Links to an external site. that informs you how you can use or modify the work for your instructional needs.
  
• Open Educational Repositories Links to an external site.
• Open Courses Links to an external site.
• Open Textbooks Links to an external site.
• Videos Links to an external site.
• Music Links to an external site.
• Images Links to an external site.

• Link to Existing Websites.
  Linking to materials on the Internet from your course's website is allowable. Since you are only pointing to materials and not copying or displaying those materials, you are not infringing copyright law. You will need to check these links periodically to make sure the URLs are still accurate. Make sure the link is evident, give credit to the author, and make it open in a new window. If you make the linked material appear to be your own, then you could be in violation of copyright law.
• Link to Electronic Resources in the Library.
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• Empower the Students.
  Use creative learning strategies to encourage students to locate the online resources on their own. Provide direction and guidance to assist students in developing electronic search strategies and access methods, such as Webquests or Web Scavenger Hunts.
• Search for public domain or copyright free images to use in your course.
  There are several online resources that provide copyright free images or images with Creative Commons licensing. A few of these resources are provided below:
• Creative Commons: http://search.creativecommons.org/ Links to an external site.
• The Creative Commons search page utilizes both Google and Yahoo search engines and is an excellent resource for locating copyright free images for use in your online materials. With a Creative Commons license, the creator keeps the copyright but generally allows people to copy, modify, and distribute their work provided credit is given. Creative Commons materials are denoted with a "CC" image and their license type.
• To learn more about the various types of Creative Commons licenses, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ Links to an external site.
• Search for more open image resources Links to an external site.provided on the Diigo social bookmarking page.
• Include a Copyright Notice in your Syllabus.
• Consider including a copyright statement in your syllabus to inform students there may be copyright protected materials in your course that should not be copied, duplicated or downloaded. A sample copyright statement is provided in the Syllabus template you will use to create your Syllabus later this week.
• Ask for permission to use content in your online course.
• If you want to display, perform, or distribute something copyrighted, the safest course is to obtain permission (in writing) from the owner.
• Ask if there is a fee involved.
• Mention that the work will be used in a password protected online course.
• Create a folder in the Files area of your course to store copyright permission. This will help you organize this information by course and will be easy to locate if you need to access it for some reason.

Optional Further Reading

• United State Copyright Office Links to an external site.
  The U.S. Copyright Office from the Library of Congress maintains a site with information, news, and resources related to copyright and Fair Use.
• Campus Guide to Copyright Compliance (CCC) Links to an external site.
  Designed for academic institutions, this guide helps answer questions ranging from basic copyright law to the more complex topics.
• The American Library Association hosts a series of websites on Copyright, Fair Use and the TEACH act:  Links to an external site.
  Copyright and Fair Use  Links to an external site.
• Links to an external site.TEACH Act Links to an external site.

TOPKit Sample Course was prepared by the University of Central Florida (UCF). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License Links to an external site..