Showing a Videotape for Classroom Instruction
- Scenario: A teacher wishes to show a copyrighted motion picture to her class for instructional purposes.
- Fair Use: Yes, since it is for classroom instruction and no admission fee is charged. Tuition and course fees do not constitute admission fees.
Copying a Videotape for Classroom Instruction
- Scenario: A teacher makes a copy of the videotape described above for a colleague to show in her class at the same time.
- Fair Use: No. The teacher may lend her personal copy of the videotape to a colleague for this purpose.
free image from Clker.com
Showing a Video in an Online Class
- Scenario: An instructor wants to use a documentary and post it to a password-protected course website for download.
- Fair Use: Only in the face-to-face classroom setting would this be allowable under the provisions of Section 110(1) in U.S. copyright law.
- In this case the instructor would conduct a four factor fair use analysis to determine whether this is an allowable use. The circumstances weigh against fair use. Though the purpose is educational and the nature of this documentary film may be factual, the amount (the entire film) and the market effect (students will download the film and thus be able to keep their own copy) tip the balance of the four factors away from fair use. Use of the entire film may be critical to the educational purpose but by downloading the entire film each student becomes part of a distribution of the film that very likely has a negative market effect which cannot be ignored. If only streaming is allowed it would be fair use.
Using Media in Powerpoints
- Scenario: An instructor wants to include photographs or music in a PowerPoint presentation for his class lecture. Does he need to seek permission from the copyright owners to do so? What if he wants to make changes to the photograph or music file?
- Fair Use: Yes, because the use occurs in the face-to-face classroom, the instructor does not need to seek permission to use the copyrighted photographs and music files. Displaying or performing copyrighted works for classroom purposes is allowed under section 110 of U.S. Copyright Law.
- In addition, changes made to enhance his instructional purpose, e.g. commentary, criticism, even parody, are activities allowed under the fair use provision.
Using Musical Excerpts
- Scenario: A professor wants to take excerpts from six musical works to compare differences in a passage performed by different groups. The works were obtained legally and no licenses were signed. Is it a fair use for the professor to make this recording for use in classroom teaching?
- Fair Use: The purpose of the copying is instruction, not profit. Based on the first factor, the use would be fair. The works are highly creative, however, so the second factor weighs against fair use. Only small portions are being used. In this case the third fair use factor is met. There is little evidence that the copying, given its extent and purpose, would have any market effect. The issue of market effect is actually lessened since two of the other three factors are met. Unless there is a comparable commercially available recording, this would be a fair use.