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

["Christine Wilson" <cmwilson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Isn't it likely that they subscribe to a copyright clearance center in which
they pay for permission semester after semester to use the materials? Such as
http://www.copyright.com/


Christine Wilson
Instructor
Wake Technical Community College
9101 Fayetteville Road
Raleigh, NC 27603-5696

Email correspondence to and from this address may be subject to the North
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>>> "Bob Holley" <aa3805@xxxxxxxxx> 02/03/12 09:00 AM >>>
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)

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