Copyright Compliance in Teaching and Learning at Wabash
All members of the Wabash community should comply with U.S. Copyright Law, Title 17 of the United States Code, the doctrine of Fair Use, and respect the intellectual property rights of others. Infringement of another person’s copyright is a violation of federal law. The legal ramifications of infringement include fines that range from $200 to $150,000 per infringement and/or prison. Use of Wabash College information resources or information technologies that results in copyright infringement is prohibited. Employees of the College who direct or require others to copy or distribute copyrighted material should ensure that such actions can be accomplished lawfully and encourage those copying or distributing copyrighted material to do so in compliance with U.S. Copyright law.
This policy applies to all authorized users of the College’s information resources and technologies, as well as contractors and volunteers involved in the production of the College’s teaching or marketing materials. This policy does not limit use by the community of material for which the College owns copyright.
When copying content for classroom use, less is best. The greater the amount copied, the less likely that fair use exception will apply. It is best to copy only the portion required to accomplish a specific educational goal, which may sometimes include small or short works in their entirety (though this should be avoided when possible). Only a Court can make a final determination of whether a particular use is fair and the College encourages those with questions to contact Diane Norton or Jeff Beck prior to making any sort of fair use determination. For questions regarding video content, please contact Susan Albrecht. Copied content may be made available online if access is restricted to the enrolled students of a specific course and copying or distribution for non-educational purposes is prohibited.
For additional information on copyright, various material formats, common usage questions and scenarios please refer to this website. For guidance on content derived from artificial intelligence, please consult the Copyright and Artificial Intelligence Guidance from the U.S. Copyright Office.