Objectives Copyright and Distance Education

4.1 Differentiate between myth and fact related to copyright applications in distance education.

A work has to be published and registered with the United States Copyright Office to receive copyright protection, if it doesn’t have a copyright notice it is a public domain, anything on the internet is public domain, a work copyrighted in another country is public domain in the United States, the doctrine of “fair use” means that copyrighted materials can be used in an educational setting without permission and lastly any copyrighted materials can be digitized and placed on a course website without permission, as long as the site is password protected. 

4.2 Recognize the exclusive rights granted to copyright holders by U.S. copyright law.

The exclusive rights are to reproduce the copyrighted work, prepare derivative works based on the copyrighted original, distribute copies of the copyrighted work, perform the copyrighted work, and display the copyrighted work publicly.

4.3 Determine when copyrighted material enters the public domain.

It can enter the public domain most often simply through expiration of copyright protection and when owners abandon their copyrights.

4.4 Apply the four essential fair use criteria and published guidelines to determine whether use of copyrighted materials requires permission from rights holders.

The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes, the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole, and the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

4.5 Identify and track the status of current copyright legislation in Congress, and be aware of the implications of new legislation.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) 1998, and the Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH) Act 2002

4.6 Determine whether learning materials may be used in a video-based distance education course without permission or require authorization from the rights holder.

According to the Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act (TEACH)   digital materials must only be available to the students during approximately the same time period in which they would be available to an face to face class, unless unusual circumstances exist, your institution holds the copyright to these videos, and you should be able to use them  anytime without restrictions.

4.7 Recognize what materials may be placed on the Internet without permission.

Materials that may be placed without permission are name, position, institution, mailing address and phone and fax number. Identification of the item to be used, complete description of the intended use and date by which permission is requested.

4.8 Recognize the circumstances under which Internet materials copyrighted by others may be forwarded, downloaded, and printed.

Under the circumstances and broadly speaking, one can copyright any original work of authorship that can be "fixed in any tangible medium. of expression," such as written on paper, or encoded on disk or tape, or recorded on film

4.9 Follow appropriate procedures for obtaining permission from rights holders to use copyrighted materials in a distance education course.

Distance educators must obtain permission from rights holders before using copyrighted materials in their courses, they should begin by contacting the publisher or distributor, if no address or phone is provided one must check catalogues or refer to the librarian and the last resort is a plea for help sent to the appropriate Internet mailing list. 

4.10 Facilitate the development of an effective intellectual property rights policy.

The development is who owns an online course the school/university, the faculty member providing the content, should the ownership be shared between the two , and if so under what conditions or is it even possible to “own” an entire online course.

4.11 Recognize the potential consequences of copyright infringement

If a copyright infringement is found on a website maintained by a service provider, the rights holder may request that the service provider “take down” or block access to the infringing material and escape organizational liability for the infringement.