Carmen and Copyright

Carmen Copyright Considerations

The TEACH Act sets forth requirements for the use of copyrighted works in online teaching.  The Fair Use Law also governs the use of copyrighted materials for nonprofit education.  OSU also maintains contracts with providers of electronic resources that require the university to use materials according to the terms of these contracts.  The TEACH Act, the Fair Use Law, and OSU’s electronic resource contracts set forth the following guidelines for the online use of copyrighted material.

Linking to Electronic Journals or Texts

• Link from Carmen to course materials available in a library electronic journal or text, rather than using a pdf of the material.  OSU Libraries and Prior Health Sciences Library already pay for the use of the electronic material, so permission to use any copyrighted material is not necessary when linking to material in an electronic database. 
• Authentication is necessary for OSU faculty, staff and students when they click on a link before accessing the electronic article or text because these databases are password protected. 
• For more information on creating a link to electronic material, see Carmen Linking Information and the OSU Libraries Faculty Tutorial. 
• A Copyright Notice should be inserted in the News or Contents section of Carmen when linking to electronic resources. 

Using Copyrighted Materials

• Ensure that the course is directed by an instructor and part of regular class offerings.
• Maintain copyrighted course materials in a Carmen course website for only the time period of the course (for example, for only one quarter or one semester).
• Limit access to Carmen course materials to the students in the class and any instructors or administrative staff associated with the class.
• Use only a limited portion or a small amount of any text, article or other copyrighted material that is directly related and of assistance to teaching an objective of the course. For more information on the amount of copyrighted material that can be used for nonprofit educational or research purposes see U.S. Copyright Office Circular 21. 
•  When a large portion or the central “heart” of any text is used, contact the Health Sciences Copyright Management Office to obtain permission from the copyright holder to use the material.
• A Copyright Notice  should be scanned in before the material being made into a PDF.  Also, the title and copyright page from any print material should be scanned.
• Give attribution to the original source either through scanning the title page for textual material or including attribution with any image, table, graph, etc. used. Include the web address for any material used from a website.
• Use the Web address or a link to online material, which is preferred to copying material from a website into Carmen.  When linking, there is presently no need to obtain copyright permission. 
• Online Performances and Displays: An entire non-dramatic work may be used for teaching purposes.  Only reasonable and limited portions of dramatic works may be used.  All displays of still works are allowed for online teaching purposes in an amount comparable to classroom use. For more information on acceptable amounts of copyrighted media that can be used for nonprofit education and research, see U.S. Copyright Office Circular 21 or the CONFU Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia provided at the University of Texas Crash Copyright Course website, http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/Intellectualproperty/cprtindx.htm .
• Do not use material in Carmen which is normally sold to students or sold for online educational purposes, such as educational DVDs, textbooks, and course packs.
• If the same material is to be used by the same instructor for a course for subsequent class sessions (for example, subsequent quarters or semesters), contact the Health Sciences Copyright Management Office to obtain permission from the copyright holder to use the material. (Except when linking to online materials or library electronic resources, see above.) 

Disclaimer

The information on these web pages and that received from the Copyright Management Office is not legal advice, nor is the CMO legal counsel to the university or any members of the university community.