Policy 8.121

Use of Copyrighted Materials

1. Purpose. To provide guidelines for the fair use of copyrighted information that is used for educational purposes in accordance with the Copyright Act of 1976, Title 17 of the United States Code, and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. P. L. 105-304.

2. Policy. The School Board expects all employees, volunteers and students to adhere to all pertinent copyright laws and "fair use" guidelines which cover the reproduction, distribution, and use of print resources, music, recordings, theatrical performances, computer software, television and video resources, and online and electronic resources and licensing. Employees and students are prohibited from the use or duplication of any copyright materials not allowed by copyright law, "fair use" guidelines, licenses or contractual agreements. Where there is reason to believe the material does not fall within the fair use guidelines, there is no license agreement, or there is no contractual agreement, prior permission shall be obtained. At no time shall it be necessary for an employee to violate copyright laws in order to properly perform his or her duties.

   1. Employees who violate copyright laws and who fail to obtain prior written permission for said reproduction or use from the copyright holder or who fail to abide by the "fair use" guidelines may be liable for copyright infringement.

   2. In the event of litigation resulting from copyright violation, the School Board will not assume responsibility for actions of an employee or student who has willfully contravened this policy. A finding of willful infringement will preclude the School Board paying any judgment rendered against the employee and the paying of attorneys fees or costs which the employee would incur in conjunction with a lawsuit and may render the employee liable to the School Board for any damages which the School Board is liable to pay.

   3. Employees who willfully infringe upon copyright laws may be subject to disciplinary action by the Board.

3. Fair Use Principles. Under the fair use doctrine, copyrighted materials may be reproduced without authorization for the purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research following these general guidelines:

   1. PURPOSE AND CHARACTER OF THE USE. The use must be for such purposes of teaching or scholarship and must be nonprofit, not commercial.

   2. NATURE OF THE COPYRIGHTED WORK. Staff may make single copies of: a chapter of a book for such use as instruction, preparation for teaching or research; an article from a periodical or newspaper; a short story, essay or poem and a chart, graph, diagram, drawing, cartoon or picture from a book, periodical or newspaper.

   3. AMOUNT AND SUBSTANTIALITY OF THE PORTION USED. Copying the whole of a work cannot be considered fair use: copying a small portion may be considered fair use if appropriate guidelines are followed. The amount and substantiality of the portion used must be reasonable.

   4. EFFECT OF THE USE UPON THE POTENTIAL MARKET FOR OR VALUE OF THE COPYRIGHTED WORK. If resulting economic loss to the copyright holder can be shown, making even a single copy of certain materials may be an infringement; and making multiple copies presents the danger of greater penalties, Thus, the potential market value of the work should not be affected.

4. Fair Use for Education Multimedia. The 1994 Conference on Fair Use (CONFU) developed guidelines to determine fair use portions of copyrighted works in educational multimedia projects, The following limitations restrict the portion of any given work that may be used pursuant to fair use in an educational media project:

   1. Motion Media: Up to 10% or 3 minutes whichever is less

   2. Text Material: Up to 10% or 1000 word whichever is less

   3. Poem: An entire poem with less than 250 words but no more than 3 poems by same author and 5 poems by different authors. For poems greater than 250 words, excerpts of up to 250 words may be used, but no more than three excerpts from one poem or five excerpts from an anthology

   4. Music Lyrics Music Video: Up to 10% of an individual work but no more than 30 seconds per event. No alterations that change the basic melody or fundamental character of the work

   5. Illustrations and Photographs: Up to 5 images by an artist or photographer may be reproduced or incorporated and no more than 10% or 15 images whichever is less from a published collective work

   6. Numerical Data Sets: Up to 10% or 2500 fields or cell entries, whichever is less, from a copyrighted data table

5. Responsibilities of Employees.

   1. Responsibilities of Teachers and Other Users. Teachers, librarians and other users of copyrighted materials are responsible for the following:

      1. Review and compliance with this policy and the fair use guidelines.

      2. Use and copying of copyrighted materials only with permission, except as provided in the fair use guidelines.

   2. School Site and Site-Based Responsibility. The principal of each school and each site-based administrator is responsible for the following:

      1. Provision of information to employees and students, if applicable, regarding the legal, ethical and practical problems caused by copyright infringement.

      2. Establishing practices that will enforce this policy.

      3. Ensuring reproduction equipment (photocopiers and computers are labeled with warnings that reproduction is not permitted without permission from the copyright owner or authorized agent.

   3. Print Shop or School Library Media Centers. No copyrighted materials will be reproduced by the School District Printing Services or school library media centers unless accompanied by a signed authorization from the copyright owner or authorized agent or a statement of educational fair use signed by the responsible instructional employee for one or more of the purposes allowed under Section 107, U. S. Code. All requests for reproduction by Printing Services of copyrighted materials shall be submitted to Printing Services by:

      1. The principal or his/her designee at a school center;

      2. The appropriate division or area superintendent; or

      3. A member of the Superintendent's Leadership Team.

6. Federal Copyright Office Filing. The superintendent or designee shall file with the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress, and post the same information on the district's web site, his or her designation as the district's agent, in the district's role as an internet service provider, to receive notifications of any claims that users of the district's Internet network have infringed copyright law. The superintendent or designee shall be responsible for investigating and responding to any complaints related to the infringement of copyright laws.

7. Implementation of Policy. The superintendent is responsible for implementing this policy and any accompanying administrative guidelines including the copying and distribution of copyrighted materials for instructional purposes and for the appropriate use of copyrighted materials on the School Board's website.