If you have a question about copyright, please contact the Dean of Library, E-Learning and Media Services, Jennifer Dysart, jdysart@greenriver.edu OR 253-931-3445
Copyright law governs distributing or making a copy of an original piece of work as well as public display and performance of audiovisual materials.
Copyright law is a "limited monopoly" meant to encourage creativity and the production of knowledge. It gives a copyright owner the right to publish or perform an intellectual or cultural creation, and receive money for it. It has important limitations, including its duration (although under US current law, the duration can be well over a century). Every intellectual and cultural creation is protected as soon as it is produced. Some things can not be put under copyright, such as facts, ideas, and languages: only actual expressions or presentations -- words, images, etc -- can be copyrighted.
Fair use is a vital part of copyright law. It allows for circumstances in which people may use or reproduce the material without asking permission or paying a fee. The Supreme Court has observed that without the right to fair use, copyright would unconstitutionally restrict freedom of speech; scholarship would grind to a halt without it. There are no sharp rules or even rules of thumb for fair use: the concept is intentionally flexible. Fair use involves four major factors: 1) the purpose and manner of use; 2) the nature of the work used; 3) the amount used; and 4) the effect on the original work's market. Many people consider the first factor -- called transformative uses -- the most important. The amount used needs to be appropriate for that purpose (which sometimes means the entire work). "Transformative" is a broad term that can include the type of audience, the context, and the reasons for using the material. Educational or scholarly use is often but not always fair use: all four factors still apply.
Once the copyright to a work has expired (or if it never applied), the work becomes part of the public domain, meaning anyone can use it in any manner without permission or charge. Facts and ideas are always in the public domain. Being out of print does NOT place a book (movie, song, etc.) in the public domain: the legal copyright has to expire. However, there are oddities: for example, Shakespeare's works are in the public domain, but a modern edition of his works falls under copyright. (Basically, editorial work counts as a transformative use, which results in a new work that is protected by copyright.)
An increasing number of people want their work to be freely available to the public, with or without restrictions, even though copyright law applies to their work. "Copyleft" (a play on the word "copyright") is a way to achieve this. Creative Commons licenses grant everyone a license to use and share a work without requiring permission or payment. Usually the license requires attribution; sometimes it prohibits derivative works and/or commercial usages (unless granted further permission); and sometimes it requires derivative works to be shared under the same terms as the original. Copyleft is the main way people provide open access to their work. Some people go further, directly placing their work in the public domain. Works shared under a copyleft license or in the public domain, including facts and ideas, form the intellectual commons.
Students are sometimes surprised to learn that for their professors, showing good use of others' work is a much better indicator of intelligence and originality than creating the appearance that all of the ideas and information came from the student. Attribution is related to but distinct from copyright and fair use. Copyright and fair use are legal matters, but attribution is an ethical issue concerning intellectual honesty and respect. One should give other people credit for what they've done. Most copyleft licenses require attribution; even if they don't, it's good practice to include it. Attribution also indicates that you're striving to engage in fair use of copyrighted material -- although it isn't proof that your use is fair. Again, consider all four factors of fair use.
Be aware that, depending on the circumstances and severity of the case, failure to attribute sources (or to quote or paraphrase properly) sometimes constitutes plagiarism, which is a serious violation of college standards. (Using other people's papers is a hands-down offense.) So whenever possible, attribute your sources of information, quotations, images, videos, and sound clips. That goes for works in the public domain or
under copyleft, as well as fair use. Remember, attributing work is not the same thing as exercising fair use.
The information in this box is used courtesy of Yale University Libraries.
The issues surrounding "Fair Use" and copyright are complicated. Holman Library has collected a few sources to help you make the decision as to what is - and isn't - fair use in your classroom.
If you have a question about copyright or Fair Use, please contact the Dean of Library, E-Learning and Media Services, Jennifer Dysart, jdysart@greenriver.edu OR 253-931-3445
The Face-To-Face Teaching Exemption (“Exemption of Certain Performances and Displays”, Section 110 of the Copyright Act) is a section of copyright law that allows non-profit educational institutions to show legally-obtained, copyrighted audiovisual works in face-to-face teaching activities if the audiovisual work is an integral part of the class.
For example, if an audiovisual work is used for educational purposes and is part of the coursework, you can show a regular copy, without public performance rights, to your students in the classroom.
Purchasing public performance rights means that you could show a film in "public" venues outside of class or inside of class for non-educational purposes. For example, you could show it “for fun” to people inside or outside of class. Public performance rights do NOT give you the right to transform a film into a new format (for example creating a digital stream from a DVD)
The Teach Act of 2022
allows for creating the equivalent experience for fully-online classes as for face-to-face classes.
Not all audiovisual works are available in streaming format which would be necessary for fully-online classes. Therefore the Teach Act allows educational institutions to copy legally-obtained (purchased or borrowed from a library) DVDs into a digital streaming video format for classes that take place completely online in order to give online students the same experience as face-to-face students who would normally watch the DVD in the classroom as part of the course material.
Access to that digital stream is restricted to students in that particular class and only for the necessary period of time (for example, they would not have access after the course ended)
The Teach Act does NOT allow digital streaming copies of DVDs to be created for face-to-face classes.
Hybrid courses might be considered a gray area (they are not necessarily addressed specifically in the Act), though because these classes still have a face-to-face component, some colleges have interpreted that they do not fall under the Teach Act allowances, and therefore digital streams of DVDs cannot be created for hybrid classes.
If you need to get a DVD digitized for your online course at GRC, see:
