An Educator’s Guide to

Copyright and Video Materials:

How Copyright Law Exceptions and Fair Use Law
Protects Students and Teachers

Synergy Broadcast Systems

16115 Dooley Road
Addison, TX 75001
800-601-6991 or 972-980-6991
www.synergybroadcast.com
The purpose of this document1 is to help educators and students better
understand the complex and often confusing copyright laws and how
they pertain to the use of copyrighted material in the classroom.

Educators should feel confident that they can use copyrighted material
for instructional purposes and not worry about legal ramifications.

The good news is that once all the legal jargon, sections and
subsections are sorted out, there are very strong protections for
educators and students alike. This short and simple guide will explain
the four keys that exist within our current copyright laws that allow
educators to utilize all variety of copyrighted material and also convert
video from one format into another that works best in the classroom.

In the following pages we will explain:

1. How the educational environment is exempt from nearly all of
the copyright restrictions regarding the use of copyrighted
material.

2. How the most recent revision of the Copyright Law, known as

the Teach Act, allows for the digital conversion and transmission
of copyrighted content that is in a non-digital format (like VHS).

3. What the intent of the “Fair Use” provision of the Copyright Law
is, and how it gives educators and students a tremendous
advantage when working with copyrighted materials.

4. Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that each of

the pieces of legislation exist to allow for educational use of
copyrighted materials but also has limitations. The key to
remember is that when all of the protections are looked at in
combination, you quickly realize that the use of these materials
by educators in the classroom is virtually limitless, and you can
use these materials without fear of being in violation of any of
the copyright laws as long as your use of copyrighted material is
not in a commercial environment for financial gain.

What Part of the Copyright Law Exempts Educators?

Section 110 - Here is what it says:

§ 110 · Limitations on exclusive rights: Exemption of certain performances

and displays Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, the following are not
infringements of copyright: (1) performance or display of a work by instructors or pupils
in the course of face-to-face teaching activities of a nonprofit educational institution, in a
classroom or similar place devoted to instruction, unless, in the case of a motion picture
or other audiovisual work, the performance, or the display of individual images, is given
by means of a copy that was not lawfully made under this title, and that the person
responsible for the performance knew or had reason to believe was not lawfully made.

An Educator’s Guide to Copyright and Video Materials Page 2

 This is what it means:

In short, section 110 of the United States Copyright Law provides

exemptions for the copying, digital encoding, and digital transmission
of copyrighted materials for teachers and students in the course of
their studies.

NOLO (http://www.nolo.com) is an online web portal designed to make

America’s legal system available to everyone. As such, their mission is
to present things in a common sense approach. They provide articles,
podcasts and other guidelines on their website, written by attorneys to
address all areas of law. Here’s their interpretation of Copyright Law:
Check this out…
The center for Social
“The rest of the language used around the educational exemption is
Media has an inform-
basically the legislators’ attempt to close any loopholes that might be
ative video and guide
left for people who are seeking to make pirated copies of movies, and
for the use of the Fair
other copyrighted materials. The everyday teacher in the classroom or
Use regulations; you
student utilizing a teaching tool in the course of their studies should
can find it by clicking
not have anything to worry about when it comes to Copyright Law. As
here.
a practical matter, it is highly unlikely that a television producer would
ever sue a school or individual teacher. Most use is never discovered --
after all, there are no copyright police roaming the nation's
classrooms.”

Recent Revisions – Known as the “Teach Act”

The Teach Act was added to the Copyright Law in late 2002, and is
also found in section 110. The language used is complex, but here is
what you as an educator need to know:

“The everyday 1. Transmitting performances of all of a non-dramatic literary

teacher in the or musical work
classroom or student
Non-dramatic literary works as defined in the Act excludes audiovisual
utilizing a teaching works; thus, examples of permitted performances in this category in
tool in the course of which entire works may be displayed and performed might include a
their studies should poetry or short story reading. Non-dramatic musical works would
not have anything to include all music other than opera, music videos (because they are
worry about when it audiovisual), and musicals.
comes to Copyright 2. Transmitting reasonable and limited portions of any other
Law” performance
-NOLO
This category includes all audiovisual works such as films and videos of
all types, and any dramatic musical works excluded above.

3. Transmitting displays of any work in amounts comparable to

typical face-to-face displays

This category would include still images of all kinds.

An Educator’s Guide to Copyright and Video Materials Page 3

Finally, a new section was added to the Copyright Act in conjunction
with the Teach Act to authorize educators to make the copies
necessary to display and perform works in a digital environment. New
Section 112(f) (ephemeral recordings) works with Section 110 to
permit those authorized to perform and display works under 110 to
copy digital works and digitize analog works in order to make
authorized displays and performances so long as such copies are
retained only by the institution and used only for the activities
authorized by Section 110.

This means you can encode or transcode content to meet your needs
as long as those needs stay within the classroom learning environment
and are used for educational purposes and not commercial gain and as
long as all digital copies are retained by your school or institution.

What is “Fair Use” in the Copyright Law?

Fair use is an interpretive and flexible portion of the Copyright Law
that allows for the use of portions of copyrighted material based on the
following criteria:

• The nature of the copyrighted work

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

What if I need to Record Something from Cable or TV for My

Class? Am I still protected?

From NOLO.com, “Television programs, like most other types of

expression, are protected by federal copyright laws. This means that
as a general rule, a TV program can legally be taped and shown to
students only with the copyright owner's permission.

Fortunately, the Copyright Act contains a special exception. Under

what is known as the "Fair Use" rule, someone other than the
copyright owner may make limited use of a copyrighted work without
permission for purposes such as teaching, research, scholarship,
criticism, parody, and news reporting.”

There are limitations to this area of the law in that you can record a TV
program that was broadcast to the general public and you can make
several copies of the work but you must show the work within the first
10 consecutive days following the recording. If there is a desire to

An Educator’s Guide to Copyright and Video Materials Page 4

 show the content beyond the 10 day window you should consider
contacting the copyright holder to purchase the rights to the content.
Programs from non-public broadcasts such as HBO, C-SPAN and
similar providers are not included in this exemption since they are only
offered in cable service plans and not considered a broadcast to the
general public.

Conclusion
To date, there has been no legal challenge to the idea that educators
and their pupils are exempt from the restrictions of United States
Copyright Law. This fact alone suggests that the private sector is not
interested in coming after students or teachers who use copyrighted
materials to further their ability to teach and to learn.

Additionally, the combination of all the protections described above

leave no legal grounds for any copyright violation claim to be made
against an educator. The recent crackdown on the overall piracy
market has created a myth among teachers that has caused some
educators to reject using videos in fear of a legal backlash.

However, “schools have a special responsibility to set an example

Additional Information:
http://copyright.gov
regarding copyright law. And from a purely practical point of view,
schools are an important market for producers of documentaries and
other educational works. If, instead of buying copies of a program,
schools simply taped a telecast and made as many copies as they
chose, producers might be discouraged from entering this market and
would be less likely to create new educational works.” According to
NOLO legal experts.

http://teachingcopyright.org
http://nolo.com
The reality is that using video is a very beneficial teaching tool, and
educators can use media, confident in the knowledge that our United
States Copyright law protects teachers and pupils when using this
content in an educational environment.

1
Disclaimer – This document is presented as information only and should not
be construed as legal advice. Should additional information or specific
copyright advice be required please contact legal counsel.

About Synergy Broadcast Systems

Synergy Broadcast Systems was established in 1987 and is located in Dallas, TX. The company provides
turnkey video automation solutions that include IPTV, remote video delivery, broadcast and cable automation,
video on demand, media conversion, archiving and digital signage. Our solutions are modular, flexible and
economically scalable to fit the needs of most facilities and provide a migration path for future growth and
expansion. For more information please visit our website at http://synergybroadcast.com, our blog at
http://synergybroadcast.com/blog or call us at 800-601-6991.

An Educator’s Guide to Copyright and Video Materials Page 5