Welcome back to our journey through copyright law. Today we are going to be talking about the TEACH Act. Which authorizes certain kinds of online performances and displays for distance education. The TEACH Act stands for the Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization Act. It was adopted by Congress in November of 2002. It amended the previous section 110.2 in the copyright law, which was already designed for performances and displays in distance education, but really, was confined to the technology of closed-circuit television. So, Congress updated the law to allow for online, digital, distance education. The TEACH Act is fairly complicated. It has a lot of provisions that have to be met for it to apply. So, it's not been adopted as widely as would have liked or hoped. However, as technology has advanced, it's actually become easier to do some of the things Congress told us we had to do, back in 2002, and the TEACH Act is more usable now than it was before. You have a copy of the TEACH Act text in the handouts for this segment. And, as I said, it's relatively complex and long. If you want to print that out and look at it, that's fine. But we're going to go through it section by section, and talk about how you make the TEACH Act work. The fundamental concept in section 110.2, is that it's not an infringement of copyright to make a public performance or display online to a closed group of registered students. If you follow all of the provisions in section 110.2 in our framework for analyzing a copyright problem, this exception is one of those except, specific exceptions and falls under section two. So, we're asking, is there a specific exception that allows us to do what we want to do. In this case, sometimes that will be the TEACH Act. Right, Lisa? >> Sometimes it will be the TEACH Act. But there is a lot, as you said, Kevin, to make the TEACH Act apply and to really follow the TEACH Act. So, let's walk through the TEACH Act. The TEACH Act excludes the performance and display of works produced or marketed primarily for performance and display as part of mediated instructional activities transmitted via, di, digital networks. So essentially it's telling us that analog in most digital works are okay. But not off the shelf online courses that were intended specifically to meet the online course marketplace. It also excludes a performance or display that is given by means of a copy that is not lawfully made and acquired if the transmitting institution knew or had reason to believe it was not lawfully made and acquired. So this is very similar to the classroom performances in section 110.1 that we covered previously. Also like classroom performances, the TEACH Act permits the performance of nondramatic literary and musical works. Performance of any other work is also permitted but only in reasonable and limited portions comparable to what is typically displayed in a live classroom setting. So there are questions that arise. Does this intend to mean no entire films? It does not include outside readings, like course reserves or course packs. Performance or display must be made by at the direction of, or under the actual supervision of an instructor, and performance or display is directly related to, and of material assistance, to the teaching content of the transmission. So, this specifically says no supplemental materials such as things that would be in reserve readings are included in the TEACH Act. Transmission is made solely for, and to the extent, technologically feasible, the reception is limited to students officially enrolled in the course. So this gets back to what Kevin was talking about previously, where the teach act is really very limited in its scope and it is really intended only for that instruction that is happening for students officially enrolled in the course. But we're not done, are we Kevin? >> No, we're not. You've covered the portions of the provisions of the tjack that are requirements that have to be met for a specific class. But there are additional provisions which the institution must comply with. The transmitting body or institution must have policies regarding copyright. They must provide informational materials to faculty, students, and relevant staff members that accurately describe, and promote compliance with copyright law. This can be done in a variety of ways. Sometimes those materials are online and they're part of the system in which the students are getting the course material. Sometimes they're provided separately, but institutions have to take steps to comply with this provision. Also, there must be notice to the students that materials used in connection with the course may be subject to copyright protection. This is something that almost always has to be inside the course, itself. And this is similar to the copyright notice that is required for copies that are made through inter-library loan that librarians are very familiar with. Also, for digital transmissions, the institution must apply technological measures that reasonably prevent the retention of the work in accessible form by students for longer than the class session and prevent unauthorized further distribution of the work by students to others. These are the kinds of provisions that were difficult to comply with in the past because they asked us to do technological things that were very difficult to do. Over the course of time since 2002, it's become easier to comply with some of these provisions. For example, by locking down a PDF file, or by streaming a digital file rather than making it accessible for download. It's important to remember that what the law requires are reasonable technological steps. They don't have to be perfect. So streaming is a reasonable technological step to prevent retention and further distribution, even though we know it's possible to capture a digital stream. The steps do not need to be perfect. Also, the institution must make sure that it does not engage in conduct. That reasonably interferes with technological measures that are intended to prevent distribution or retention of the work. In other words, you're not allowed to break through digital locks. As I've said, this requirement is reasonable but not perfect measures. So streaming is an option. Disabling right-click, thumbnails, and low-resolution images may all be reasonable technological measures that prevent retention and further distribution. Now, one thing I think we've already mentioned but we ought to elaborate on Lisa, is that the TEACH Act does not apply to online electronic reserves. >> That's right, Kevin. And that is a question that comes up pretty frequently. Particularly courses that may be hybrid courses where instructors are really trying to kind of find there way in, in this area and as you said complying with the teach act has become easier but it is still a lot to comply with. So for reserves, because reserves were never intended to be read or preformed in the classroom. They don't fall under the, the TEACH Act. It's not comparable to what is typically displayed in the classroom section that would have been section 110.1 for classroom performances, so it also doesn't fall under the TEACH Act, either. Now it doesn't mean that you can't use electronic reserves, but it means that electronic reserves are really falling under fair use and we're going to be talking a lot that, about fair use a lot as you know. >> So let's review about the takeaways for today's talk about the TEACH Act. Remember that when we're applying the framework for copyright analysis, this is part of question 2. We're asking is there a specific exception in the copyright law that authorizes what we want to do? You need to consider whether or not the online instruction and the use of the copyrighting materials as part of that instruction and your institution are all in compliance with the different portions of the TEACH Act. If they are, this exception applies to your use. If it doesn't. If, for some reason, you're not able to comply with all of the provisions of the TEACH Act. Then you just need to move further on in your analysis. As you said about electronic reserves, Lisa. We may move to the fair use part of that analysis. You can use the text of the law to determine if you meet these requirements, but there is also a checklist that is provided on the website of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where Peggy Hoon is the copyright specialist, which is included in your materials. And is a wonderful resource tool. >> So thank you for joining us, and you are one step closer on your journey to being a copyright maven.
