Fair Use Law and Teach Act

By Ali Pepe

An Introduction Teach Act

Stands for Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization Act

Passed on November 2, 2002 by President Bush Allows for non-profit, accredited educational

institution meeting the TEACH Act’s requirements to use copyrighted materials for educational purposes.

Its purpose: To allow educators to used copyrighted materials not

only in classroom settings but in distant education classrooms as well while still respecting the rights of the copyright holders

An Introduction Fair Use Law

“Fair use is the right to use copyrighted materials without permission or payment under some circumstances—especially when the cultural or social benefits of the use are predominant”

Based on a copyright law principles Use of copyrighted material is acceptable if used

for commentary, criticism, or parody Do not need permission from copyright owner if

used correctly

An Introduction Fair Use Law

Four Factors: The purpose and character of your use The nature of the copyrighted work The amount and substantiality of the portion taken The effect of the use upon the potential market

Three Guidelines Accredited non-profit educational institutions

TEACH Act The Amount and Substantiality of the Portion

Taken Fair Use Law

The Effect of the Use Upon the Potential Market Fair Use Law

Accredited non-profit educational institutions To be eligible for the TEACH act one must be

an accredited non-profit educational institution

Profit institutions are not covered by this act For example, the University of Phoenix because it

is a for profit institution This includes:

“Face-to-face” classrooms Distance education or online classrooms

Accredited non-profit educational institutions Example:

The University of Phoenix would not be covered under the Fair Use Law because it is a for profit institution

Western New England University is covered because it is non-profit.

The Amount and Substantiality of the Portion Taken You are not allowed to copy a whole work for a

class If you are taking just small excerpts or clips from a

work and citing them you should be covered Like a lot of other things in life there are exceptions to

this rule You cannot copy the core concept of a work

The excepts you use must be used to comment or criticize the work

It can also be used to build upon and supplement your own ideas

A parody is the exception and is able to use the core concept of the work

The Amount and Substantiality of the Portion Taken Example:

As a teacher of a creative writing class you want your students to read the first chapter in “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak. You have incorporated it into your lesson plan and plan to comment on the imagery in the chapter.

This is acceptable under Fair Use Law because you wish to comment on the work and are only copying a portion of the book for use in class only.

The Effect of the Use Upon the Potential Market Use of the work in a classroom cannot and

should not takeaway any of the potential income of the author

Use of the work cannot and should not compete with any potential new work the author may complete

Parody is an exclusion to the above It can either help or destroy potential income for

the original author It is protected under Fair Use Law

The Effect of the Use Upon the Potential Market Example

You read a very interesting book and decide to write a essay because you have been greatly influenced by the book. However, in this book you use several key concepts from the book and you decide to sell it.

By selling this book and using the core concepts of another authors book you have the potential of taking away some of their projected income from book sales.

If you instead wrote a book criticizing or commenting on the other work without using all the core concepts you would then be covered by the Fair Use Law

Conclusion The TEACH Act and Fair Use Law are in place

to make it easier on teachers to use copyrighted materials in the classroom

The TEACH Act covers both face-to-face and distant education

If you are questioning if what you are doing is covered under the Fair Use Law use the four factors