21 Copyright
Using existing materials in your teaching
Copyright issues will almost certainly arise if you use any existing media (books, articles, videos, etc) in your teaching. In many cases, the copyright issues involved in teaching online are not that different than when teaching in person, but there are a few points of divergence. University of Minnesota instructors have some flexibility in terms of how they handle copyright issues – because it’s reasonable to approach the issues in a few different ways. The University’s Office of General Counsel has affirmed that it is appropriate for instructors to make their own informed assessments about fair use and other copyright issues, as described in the University of Minnesota Instructors Rights and Responsibilities page.
Below we outline a few different reasonable approaches to copyright issues when using existing materials.
Linking to publicly available materials
The easiest way to share materials with students is to share links, rather than make or distribute copies. Sharing a link to publicly available online content (web pages, online newspapers, online videos, etc) raises few copyright issues and requires no permission. With subscription or paywalled online content, it is usually permissible to share a link that other people may access via their own subscriptions.
Be wary of sharing links with students if the linked content itself seems to be obviously infringing (e.g., a video of a currently-in-theaters feature film that appears to have been recorded inside a movie theater). This can be considered knowing encouragement to infringe. However, if the linked content is not obviously infringing (e.g., a copy of a book chapter apparently shared by the author or publisher), sharing links is usually fine.
Linking via subscription access
For materials to which the University provides subscription access (such as library subscription ebooks, journals, and databases), linking is usually what the subscription contracts permit. Downloading University subscription content and re-uploading it to a course website may violate subscription contracts. It also obscures students’ use of the resource, which may affect ongoing subscription decisions in times of limited budgets. Most campus libraries have services that can help you create durable links – for example, in the Twin Cities, further information is available at Course material solutions for instructors. For information about durable linking services at other system campuses, see the list of campus libraries contacts below.
Making copies when use is already allowed by law or a license
There are some materials for which copyright is not a barrier to copying and distribution – including materials in which the copyright has ended, or never existed (i.e., items in the public domain), and those covered by an open license enabling use, such as a Creative Commons license.
- Many Open Access academic publications provide Creative Commons licenses for all publish