Copyright Information

POLICY 

It is the policy of Technical State Technical System and Colleges to be in compliance with all federal and state statutes regulating the use and development of copyrighted materials.

PERTINENT INFORMATION

Definitions:

Copyright: Copyright is an area of law that provides creators and distributors of creative works with an incentive to share their works by granting them the right to be compensated when others use their works in certain ways. Specific rights are granted to creators of works in the U.S. Copyright Act (Title 17, US Code).

Copyrighted materials: Copyrighted materials include all original works of authorship, including logos, brands,  literary and dramatic works, musical scores, architecture, photographs, maps, choreographies, pantomimes, graphic art work, sculptures, audiovisual works, song lyrics, video, film, and electronic creations, such as computer programs and software.

Fair  use: A provision for fair use, often referred to as “educational fair use,” exists under  the Copyright Law.  Using copyrighted material under the fair use provision is restricted to the following purposes:   criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship and research, in a nonprofit setting.  Furthermore, a determination as to whether the reproduction is being used fairly must be made based upon the following factors:

1.      The purpose and character of the use (whether for commercial or non-profit educational use).

2.      The nature of the copyright-protected work.

3.      The amount of the information used in proportion to the entire work.

4.      The effect of the use of the material upon the potential market value of the copyright-protected work.

Fair use is an ambiguous concept, and the law does not exactly state what would be labeled fair use or not.

TEACH Act: The TEACH Act of 2002 (“Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act) requires that educational institutions must:  

·         be accredited and non-profit;

·         have an institutional copyright policy;

·         publicize its copyright policy and provide informative resources;

·         utilize legally acquired copies;

·         utilize technological measures that reasonably prevent recipients from retaining copyrighted  works beyond the classroom session and prevent further distribution of them;

·         use the digital version if commercially available (you cannot change from analog version to digital);

·         provide notice to students that materials used in connection with the course may be subject to copyright protection, and  

·         provide access to copyrighted materials only to those  students currently enrolled in the course.

DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY

The Board of Regents is the only body to set policy for Texas State Technical System and Campuses. The Chancellor has the authority to further delegate responsibility for copyright compliance to each individual campus.

OPERATING REQUIREMENTS:

Each college will develop Campus Operating Procedures to comply with all mandated requirements of the U.S. Copyright Act and the TEACH Act.

All campuses will inform students, faculty, and staff about copyright laws and compliance.

PERFORMANCE STANDARDS:

College Operating Procedures at each college exist for implementation of this System Operating Standard.

Copyright compliance information must be included in all faculty, staff, and student handbooks. Training sessions on copyright compliance will be required and given to all employees.

Each college will provide notice to students that course materials may be copyrighted and student use of these materials may be restricted. This includes course content provided through Course Management Systems (CMS) for distance education and content contained on TSTC web sites.

IMPORTANT RESOURCES