Copyright Scenarios

Some of these scenarios are based on actual court cases (and therefore we have the right to use them on this web site!), and some are made up based on our experiences as teachers (so we have the right to use those too!).

1. A University professor records a showing of the "Andy Griffith Show" on her VCR. She then puts the tape on reserve in the library so students can watch it to critique it.
   
   Is this violating copyright?
   
   
2. An elementary school teacher copies a song from a cd to upload to the web so that students can listen to it.
   
    Is this violating copyright?
   
   
3. A University professor makes several dozen copies, one for each student in the class, of a published, academic journal article.
   
     Is this violating copyright?
   
   
4. An online teacher sends students to a link deep into a web site to complete a lesson provided there. The web site is operated by a vendor, who markets online instruction.
   
   Is this violating copyright?
   
   
5. Some students created web sites so that others could obtain copies of software and music can be easily distributed.
   
   Is this violating copyright?

Of Special Interest to Higher Education:

1. A university professor videotapes his lectures and sells them to another university for personal profit.
   
   Is this violating copyright?
   
   
2. A university professor creates course materials to teach a new course. Later, she moves to another university and decides to use the same course materials to teach the course at her new institution.
   
   Is this violating copyright?
   
   
3. A university Teacher Resource Team develops, hosts, and supports online courses developed by professors in the school. They are accused of copyright infringement because of illegally copied articles which are a part of one of those courses.
   
   Is this violating copyright?
   
   
4. A University library subscribes to a scholarly journal and a professor wants to make photocopies of articles from that journal for archival purposes. Is this allowable under Fair Use?
   
   Is this violating copyright?
   
   
5. A University professor wants to make a collection of assorted readings available to her students. She will have her students buy a course pack from the local photocopying shop.
   
   Is this violating copyright?
   
   
6. Current copyright law states that anything that is produced in final form is automatically copyrighted.

   If I am doing research that is not yet completed, can it be protected?

Publishing Issues: Photocopying Anthologies

The First Major Test of the DMCA

Am I responsible for the content on web sites I link to?

Academic Freedom and Speech - Felten v. RIAA

More cases. . . . . .