Copyright Checklist: The TEACH Act and Distance Education
PLEASE COMPLETE AND retain a copy of this form in connection with each copyrighted work considered for your distance education course.
Your name: ________
Educational institution: ________
Course or project: ________
Today’s date: ________
Prepared by: ________
The Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act, better known as the TEACH Act, is designed to provide educators more opportunity for the use of copyrighted works in distance education programs while still offering adequate copyright protection to those works. In order to qualify for these further possibilities, educators must meet several requirements. As the responsibilities of the TEACH Act will most likely fall upon different persons or groups within any one educational institution, this checklist should be used as an aid to organize and ensure complete compliance with the TEACH Act for each copyrighted work. Remember, all requirements must be satisfied in order to fit within this statute. Keep in mind that if your planned copying does not fit the requirements of the TEACH Act, you may still pursue possibilities under fair use or other exceptions in the copyright law, or obtain permission from the copyright owner.
I. TEACH Act requirements that are likely the responsibility of instructors:
[ ] A. The transmission is of one of the following:
• A performance of a nondramatic literary work; or
• A performance of a nondramatic musical work; or
• A performance of any other work, including dramatic works and audiovisual works, but only in “reasonable and limited portions”; or
• A display in an amount comparable to that which is typically displayed in the course of a live classroom session.
[ ] B. The work is not marketed primarily for performance or display as part of a digitally transmitted mediated instructional activity.
[ ] C. The work to be used is not a textbook, course pack, or other material in any media that is typically purchased or acquired by students for their independent use and retention.
[ ] D. The performance or display is:
• Made by, at the direction of, or under the actual supervision of an instructor “as an integral part of a class session offered as a regular part of the systematic mediated instructional activities” of the educational institution; and
• Directly related and of material assistance to the teaching content of the transmission.
[ ] E. The institution does not know or have reason to believe that the copy of the work to be transmitted was not lawfully made or acquired.
[ ] F. If the work to be used is to be converted from print or another analog version to digital format:
• The amount of the work converted is no greater than the amount that can lawfully be used for the course; and
• No digital version of the work is available to the institution, or the digital version available to the institution has technological protection that prevents its lawful use for the course.
II. TEACH Act requirements that are likely the responsibility of the institution:
[ ] A. The institution for which the work is transmitted is an accredited nonprofit educational institution.
[ ] B. The institution has instituted policies regarding copyright.
[ ] C. The institution has provided information materials to faculty, students, and relevant staff members that describe and promote U.S. copyright laws.
[ ] D.The institution has provided notice to students that materials used in connection with the course may be subject to copyright protection.
[ ] E. The transmission of the content is made “solely for…students officially enrolled in the course for which the transmission is made.”
III. TEACH Act requirements that are likely the responsibility of information technology officials:
[ ] A. Technological measures have been taken to reasonably prevent:
• Retention of the work in accessible form by students for longer than the class session; and
• Unauthorized further dissemination of the work in accessible form by such recipients to others.
[ ] B. The institution has not engaged in conduct that could reasonably be expected to interfere with technological measures used by copyright owners to prevent retention or dissemination of their works.
[ ] C. The work is stored on a system or network in a manner that is ordinarily not accessible to anyone other than anticipated recipients.
[ ] D. The copy of the work will be maintained on the system or network in a manner ordinarily accessible for a period that is reasonably necessary to facilitate the transmissions for which it was made.
[ ] E. Any copies made for the purpose of transmitting the work are retained and solely used by the institution.
This document is only applicable to copies of copyrighted works made pursuant to the TEACH Act, Section 110(2) of the U.S. Copyright Act. If your copying does not fit the parameters of this statute, you may still consider alternatives, including fair use, as noted in the opening paragraph. You do not need to consider any of these options, however, if the work is in the public domain (e.g., if it was published in the United States before 1923).
Based on a checklist prepared by the Copyright Advisory Office, Columbia University Libraries. Please visit www.copyright.columbia.edu.