Copyright Case #1
Professor A. teaches a course about American cities, specifically focusing on Chicago and New York City. As a part of the course in his face-to-face version he uses two video sets, Chicago – City of the Century (http://amzn.to/nEJmh8) and Ric Burns’ New York (http://amzn.to/qSYens). Typically he uses portions of 2 of the 3 discs in the Chicago set, and shows all 5 of the New York videos.
As Professor A begins to move his course to an online format he is faced with the problem of how to show the videos to his online students. Please consider the following questions:
1. Can Professor A. digitize and stream the videos to his students?
Yes, he is allowed to stream both of these videos in totality under the TEACH Act.
2. What could he do to minimize the risk of copyright violations and follow fair use?
Place a notice on the class website that: The materials on this course website are only for the use of students enrolled in this course for purposes associated with this course and may not be retained or further disseminated. The materials on this course website may be protected by copyright; any further use of this material may be in violation of federal copyright law.
3. What are other options Professor A. might consider?
He could try to find content that is completely free to utilize in his class. Then he doesn’t have to worry about copywrite laws.

Copyright Case #2
Professor G. teaches a course in arts education. He has written many papers on the subject and as he moves his course online he would like to use some of them as readings for his course. He puts several of the articles up in his ANGEL course, but is then told by a colleague that he may be violating copyright law. Upon further inquiry, Professor G. is told that he must pay the publisher a certain amount of money per article, per semester in order to use them in his course.

1. How do you interpret this case? Is the publisher in the right to request payment?
I don’t see how this would be any different than using any other article for educational purposes. Since it doesn’t state that he gave up copyright to the publisher, I would think he had more of a right to use them since they are his articles.
2. Could Professor G. make a case for fair use? How?
Yes. He is using them for “commentary or criticism” within his course. His curriculum is in alignment with the articles (especially since he is the one who wrote them), so they can be utilized without infringing on any copywrite laws.
3. What are some options Professor G. has for disseminating his work to students?
Utilize the parts of it in his class that are the most applicable. This is acceptable under the Teach Act.

Copyright Case #3
Professor M. is an avid “screencaster,” often creating several short narrated slideshows each week that she puts online for her students. Because Professor M. knows the power of imagery, she often uses visuals to help illustrate her points. Her students often give her positive feedback about these materials. Professor M. uses Google’s image search to find relevant images for her presentations, then puts them into her slideshows. One day, a publishing company approaches Professor M. about using her slideshows in an upcoming textbook. Please consider the following about Professor M’s case.
1. Is Professor M. violating copyright/fair use by using images from Google’s image
search?
Possibly, yes. Google images uses a mix of free and copyrighted images, so, if she has not checked into each, she could be in violation if the images are not necessary for the teaching of the class.
2. If you determine she is in violation, what might she do to come into compliance?
She can write to the owner of each image and get permission. She can also choose to only utilize free images such as Pexel.
3. What about the offer from the publishing company? Can Professor M. sell them
her slideshows?
She cannot if she has utilized copyrighted materials.

Copyright Case #4
Professor D. is a tech savvy instructor who teaches film studies and multimedia creation in an online format. As a part of her course, she has an assignment where she models several video “remixes” – videos created from one or a variety of sources that often take inspiration from or follow known storylines (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T5_0AGdFic) – that she has created and then asks her students to create their own remixes and share them with others via YouTube.
Professor D. also takes short clips from Hollywood movies and presents them to the class as a part of her lectures to illustrate various topics associated with film creation and criticism. She owns the DVD’s of each movie and uses a “ripper” to pull portions of the clips, then places them into her University’s learning management system so only her students have access.
1. Is Professor D violating copyright/fair use in her remixing activity? Why or why not?
No, she is utilizing short clips to be used to demonstrate techniques they are learning in the class and only her class can utilize them.
2. Are her students violating copyright/fair use in their remixing assignment?
As long as they don’t sell it, I don’t see why it would be in violation. It is in direct response to an academic assignment.
3. Is Professor D violating copyright/fair use in her use of the short Hollywood clips? Why or why not?
No, because she is utilizing short clips for educational purposes. But, she might be safer if she used Netflix, Amazon, iTunes, or Hulu. Then it is either free or she can utilize an inexpensive subscription.