TEACH Act (2002)
The Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH) Act (2002) was signed into law by President George W. Bush on November 2, 2002, especially clarifying what uses are permissible with regard to distance education. It is not an extension of Fair Use, and it often allows a more permissive argument for educators than Fair Use allows.
- Distance Education and the TEACH Act
Summary of the TEACH Act provided by the American Library Association.
Use resources with open licenses
There is a growing movement in education to create and use educational materials that are openly available to everyone. These resources are free to access and in most cases free to reuse, modify, and redistribute. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation defines these Open educational resources (OER) as "teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge."
Using OERs in your courses keeps instructional materials affordable for students, promotes a culture of collaboration and sharing, and eliminates concerns about applying fair use to avoid potential copyright violations.
Each of the example pages in this guide contain links to sites that can help you identify material that is freely available with open licenses.
- Resources for using textual materials in online education
- Resources for using images in online education
- Resources for using video in online education
- Resources for using sound recordings in online education
For more information on the OER movement and open licensing, see the links below.
- SUNY OER ServicesHigh-quality digital course materials and related instructional technologies available through SUNY’s Ready-to-Adopt Course Catalog.
- Creative CommonsFind content you can share, use and remix
OASIS (Openly Available Sources Integrated Search) is a search tool that aims to make the discovery of open content easier. Currently, OASIS is developed and managed at SUNY Geneseo's Milne Library.
Use library-licensed resources
Milne Library at SUNY Geneseo purchases and subscribes to electronic resources including online journals, e-books, reference databases, and an image database. These resources are governed by license agreements, most of which allow the licensed material to be used for educational purposes by "authorized users." Authorized users are typically defined as Geneseo students, faculty, staff, and researchers and walk-in users of the library.
Most license agreements allow authorized users to:
- Download, print, and save single copies of items for their personal use
- Incorporate links to items in electronic coursepacks, reserves and course management systems, and instructor websites
- Provide single print or electronic copies of individual items to other authorized users for noncommercial educational purposes (including to each student in a class at Geneseo)
- Provide single print or electronic copies of individual items to third-party colleagues for scholarly, educational, or research use
Using library-licensed resources for online courses avoids the need to perform fair use analyses or to seek permission from rightholders.
When using library-licensed resources, be sure to:
- Use the link (either a permalink or DOI) to the resource provided in GloCat or the database. This will ensure that students who are off-campus can access the material.
- Use the materials for courses offered through SUNY Geneseo only.
If you have any questions about licensing terms for a particular resource, please contact your liaison librarian.
- GLOCAT (Advanced Search)Search SUNY Geneseo's Library holdings, and holdings of libraries from around the world (including all SUNY libraries), plus hundreds of databases for print and online content.
Use material in the public domain
Works that are not subject to copyright are in the public domain. Public domain works are freely available for use without restriction.
A copyrighted work enters the public domain when the term of copyright protection expires or when its creator chooses to place the work in the public domain (as often indicated by the CC0 license from Creative Commons).
Determining the public domain status of a particular work can be very complicated, but as a general rule of thumb, works published in the United States before 1923 are in the public domain.
For more information, please see these resources:
- Duration of CopyrightCircular 15A from the U.S. Copyright Office; explains the extent of copyright, especially as works enter the public domain.
- Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United StatesChart providing type of work and copyright term, with public domain status.
- Public Domain ChartThis chart can help you to determine whether your work has fallen into the public domain.
- The copyright term calculator (Public domain Sherpa)Provide information about a specific work, and the Copyright Term Calculator will let you know if it is in the public domain in the United States (and if not, when it will be)
Seek permission from the rightsholders
If you want to use third-party copyrighted material for online instruction, you believe that your intended use does not qualify as fair use, and you have determined that SUNY Geneseo does not already have a license to use this material for your purpose, then you may seek permission from the rights holder. There may be a fee involved.
In some cases, you may need to research who owns the copyright and make a request to that person or entity directly. In other cases, you may be able to license use of the work through a collective rights agency.
The resources below provide detailed instructions on obtaining permissions for different types of media.
- Obtaining Copyright Permissions (University of Michigan Library)This comprehensive guide explains how to obtain copyright permission for using text, photos, fine art images, music, film, and theatre and how to initiate an independent search for a copyright holder if necessary.
- Asking for Permission (Copyright Advisory Office of Columbia University)Offers information on finding the copyright owner, complex searches, collective licensing agencies for various types of works, requesting permission (including model forms), and what to do if you cannot find the copyright owner.
