Multimedia projects incorporate both students’ and faculty members’ original material, such as course notes or commentary, together with various copyrighted medium formats, including but not limited to, motion media, music, text material, graphics, illustrations, photographs and digital software which are combined into an integrated presentation.
Students may incorporate portions of lawfully acquired copyrighted works when producing their own multimedia projects for a specific course. Faculty members may incorporate portions of lawfully acquired copyrighted works when producing their own educational multimedia programs as teaching tools to support curriculum-based instruction. Lawfully acquired copyrighted works refers to those works in which permission has been granted by the owner
Students may perform and display their own multimedia projects created for educational uses in the course for which they were created and may use them in their own portfolios as examples of their academic work. Faculty members may perform and display their own multimedia projects for curriculum-based instruction to students in the following situations:
- Face-to-face instruction;
- Assigned to students for directed self-study;
- Remote instruction to students enrolled in curriculum-based courses and located at remote sites, provided over the institution’s secure electronic network in real-time, or for after class review or directed self-study, provided there are technological limitations on access to the network and educational multimedia project (such as a password or PIN) and provided further that the technology prevents the making of copies of copyrighted material.
Faculty shall post a notice at the beginning of the course or portion of a course delivered through distance education prohibiting the copying of copyrighted materials.
Limitations – Time, Portion, Copying and Distribution:
Time: Faculty members may use their multimedia projects created for educational purposes for teaching courses for a period of up to two years after the first instructional use with a class. Use beyond that time period, even for educational purposes, requires permission for each copyrighted portion incorporated in the production.
Portion: The amount of a copyrighted work that can reasonably be used in multimedia projects under these guidelines regardless of the original medium from which the copyrighted works are taken. “In the aggregate” means the total amount of copyrighted material from a single copyrighted work that is permitted to be used in a multimedia project without permission under these guidelines. These limits apply cumulatively to each faculty members’ or students’ multimedia projects for the same academic semester, cycle or term. All students should be instructed concerning the reasons for copyright protection and the need to follow these guidelines.
Motion Media: Up to 10% or three minutes, whichever is less, in the aggregate of a copyrighted motion media work may be reproduced or otherwise incorporated as part of a multimedia project.
Text Material: Up to 10% or 1000 words, whichever is less, in the aggregate of a copyrighted work consisting of text material may be reproduced or otherwise incorporated as part of a multimedia project. An entire poem of less than 250 words may be used, but no more than three poems by one poet, or five poems by different poets from any anthology may be used. For poems of greater length, 250 words may be used, but no more than three excerpts by a poet, or five excerpts by different poets from a single anthology may be used.
Music, Lyrics, and Music Video: Up to 10%, but in no event more than 30 seconds, of the music and lyrics from an individual musical work (or in the aggregate of extracts from an individual work), whether the musical work is embodied in copies, or audio or audiovisual works, may be reproduced or otherwise incorporated as a part of a multimedia project. Any alterations to a musical work shall not change the basic melody or the fundamental character of the work.
Illustrations and Photographs: The reproduction or incorporation of photographs and illustrations is more difficult to define with regard to fair use because fair use usually precludes the use of an entire work. Under these guidelines, a photograph or illustration may be used in its entirety, but no more than five images by an artist or photographer may be reproduced or otherwise incorporated as part of an educational multimedia project. When using photographs and illustrations from a published collective work, not more than 10% or fifteen images, whichever is less, may be reproduced or otherwise incorporated as part of an educational multimedia project.
Numerical Data Sets: Up to 10% or 2500 fields or cell entries, whichever is less, from a copyrighted database or data table may be reproduced or otherwise incorporated as part of a multimedia project. A field entry is defined as a specific item of information, such as a name or social security number, in a record of a database file. A cell entry is defined as the intersection where a row and a column meet on a spreadsheet.
Copying and Distribution: Only a limited number of copies, including the original, may be made of a faculty member’s multimedia project. There may be no more than two use copies, only one of which may be placed on reserve. An additional copy may be made for preservation purposes, but may only be used or copied to replace a use copy that has been lost, stolen, or damaged. In the case of a jointly created multimedia project, each principal creator may retain one copy.
Permission: Educators and students must seek individual permission (licenses) before using copyrighted works in multimedia projects for commercial reproduction and distribution. Even for educational uses, educators and students must seek individual permissions for all copyrighted works incorporated in their personally created multimedia projects before replicating or distributing beyond the limitations listed previously. Educators and students may not use their personally created multimedia projects over electronic networks, except for uses of remote instruction as noted previously.
Downloading from the Internet: Educators and students are advised to exercise caution in using digital material downloaded form the Internet in producing their own multimedia projects, because there is a mix of works protected by copyright and works in the public domain on the network. Access to works on the Internet does not automatically mean that these can be reproduced and reused without permission or royalty payment, and furthermore, some copyrighted works may have been posted to the Internet without authorization of the copyright holder.
Attribution and Acknowledgement: Educators and students are reminded to credit the sources and display the copyright notice and copyright ownership information if this is shown in the original sources, for all works incorporated as part of multimedia projects prepared by educators and students, including those prepared under fair use. Crediting the source must adequately identify the source of the work, giving a full bibliographic description where available (including author, title, publisher, and place and date of publication). The copyright ownership information includes the copyright notice, year of first publication, and name of copyright holder.
Notice of Use Restrictions: Faculty members and students are advised that they must include on the opening screen of their multimedia program and any accompanying print material, notice that certain materials are included under the fair use exemption and have been prepared according to the multimedia fair use guidelines and are restricted from further use.
Integrity of Copyright Works – Alterations: Faculty members and students may make alterations in the portions of the copyrighted works they incorporate as part of a multimedia project only if the alterations support specific instructional objectives. Educators and students are advised to note that alterations have been made.
Licenses and Contracts: Faculty members and students should determine whether specific copyrighted works, or other data or information is subject to a license or contract. Fair use and these guidelines shall not preempt or supersede licenses and/or contractual obligations.