Copyrighted Material in the Classroom

Copyright is "The legal right granted to an author, a composer, a playwright, a publisher, or a distributor to exclusive publication, production, sale, or distribution of a literary, musical, dramatic, or artistic work

This definitely poses a problem for teachers to use a variety of resources in the classroom. Luckily, there is a fair use agreement for teachers that allows the use for copyrighted materials for educational purposes. Here are the four standard for determining what can be considered under fair use exemption:

Purpose of use: Using selected parts of copyrighted works for specific educational purposes.

Nature of the work: For copying paragraphs from a copyrighted source, fair use easily applies.
For copying a chapter, fair use may be questionable.

Proportion/extent of the material used: Duplicating excerpts that are short in relation to the
entire copyrighted work is usually considered fair use.

The effect on marketability: If there will be no reduction in sales because of copying or
distribution, the fair use exemption is likely to apply.

It is clear that teachers can definitely get around copyright policy, yet it is still necessary to be knowledgeable of the fair use policies.