The TEACH Act (2002) redefines the terms and conditions on which accredited, nonprofit educational institutions throughout the U.S. may use copyright protected materials in distance education—including on websites and by other digital means—without permission from the copyright owner and without payment of royalties.
Resources:
As stated in Shifting your course from in-person to remote teaching from Copyright Information at the Pennsylvania State University:
There are many pedagogical and technical issues that make the shift from in-person to remote teaching challenging, but for once, copyright is not a big additional area of worry! Most of the legal issues are the same in both contexts. If it was okay to do in class, it is often okay to do online, especially when your online access is limited to the same enrolled students.
Fair Use, a limitation to exclusive rights in U.S. Copyright law, is especially relevant when it comes to distance learning during COVID-19. Communicating to your students that the sources you are using are In Copyright, if applicable, and should not be shared outside of the course is important once you deemed your use fair. Please visit the first resource below, Public Statement of Library Copyright Specialists, for more information on how Fair Use can work for you.
Library Administration: 631.632.7100
Except where otherwise noted, this work by SBU Libraries is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
