RE: Copyright, for-profit educational institutions, and distance education

[ESperr@xxxxxxx]

Bob --

Part of the answer is that the TEACH act does not replace other fair use 
rights, which still could come into play depending on the character of the 
use. To quote a memo from the Cornell Libraries:
If you cannot operate within these constraints, you may still be able to 
provide electronic access to copyrighted materials under the long-standing 
principle of "fair use." The TEACH Act explicitly provides: "Nothing in 
this act is intended to limit or otherwise to alter the scope of the fair 
use doctrine." The provision of downloadable course materials and 
supplementary reading materials will continue to be subject to the fair 
use doctrine exclusively. 
- http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/policies/teach-act.cfm


Ed Sperr, M.L.I.S.
Copyright and Electronic Resources Officer
St. George's University
esperr@xxxxxxx


> Date: Thu, 2 Feb 2012 19:22:29 -0500
> To: <digital-copyright@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> From: "Bob Holley" <aa3805@xxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Copyright, for-profit educational institutions, and distance
>   education
> Message-ID: <001401cce209$e9edf190$bdc9d4b0$@edu>
> 
> In a discussion with colleagues today, no one knew how for-profit
> institutions such as the University of Phoenix can successfully teach 
their
> online course without breaking the law in regards to copyright. The 
Teach
> Act applies only to non-profit institutions and therefore does not allow
> for-profits to legally use copyrighted materials in distance education. 
> 
> 
> 
> "Section 110(2), as amended by the TEACH Act, extends the Classroom
> Exemption to accommodate the performance of copyrighted materials for
> distance education by accredited, non-profit educational institutions 
that
> meet the Act's qualifying requirements." From:
> http://www.libraryvideo.com/aboutus/lvccopyright.asp 
> 
> 
> 
> This statement would appear to gut the ability of for-profits to offer
> distance education courses since almost all such courses depend upon the
> fair use of copyrighted information. The conversation discussed three
> possible ways around this problem:
> 
> 
> 
> 1.       The for-profit institutions are set up in some convoluted way 
that
> the teaching part is non-profit.
> 
> 2.       The for-profit pays the fees for each use of a copyrighted 
item.
> 
> 3.       The for-profit lets the faculty member do it without worrying 
about
> the consequences since the copyright holder can sue only the faculty 
member
> and not the institution since faculty violation of copyright does not 
create
> a legal liability for the institution. (From my reading Tom Lipinski's 
book
> on copyright liability for libraries.)
> 
> 
> 
> I tried to ask this question at a Teach Act training session years ago 
but
> wasn't able to get through.
> 
> 
> 
> Any thoughts? 
> 
> 
> 
> Bob
> 
> 
> 
> Dr. Robert P. Holley
> 
> Professor, School of Library & Information Science
> 
> 106 Kresge Library
> 
> Wayne State University
> 
> Detroit, MI 48202
> 
> 1-888-497-8754, ext 705 (phone)
> 
> 313-577-7563 (fax)
> 
>  <mailto:aa3805@xxxxxxxxx> aa3805@xxxxxxxxx (email)
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> End of digital-copyright Digest
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