How Does Copyright Affect What You Do?
Faculty: Classroom Photocopying |  |
Copying multiple copies of a work for the classroom is legal if it meets three tests:
- Brevity
- Spontaneity
- Cumulative effect
Meeting the Spontaneity test is easy. The decision to use the material and the time when you teach the relevant class is close enough that it would be unlikely that you could reach the copyright holder for permission to copy. However, continuing use of the article without obtaining copyright permission would be a violation of fair use.
Meeting the Cumulative effect test is also easy:
- you can only use an article in one course,
- you can copy one complete item (or two excerpts) from any one author,
- you can only copy three items from the same collection or periodical issue, and
- you can only make multiple copies nine times during the quarter or semester.
The Brevity test - the fact that you can't copy too much of a work - is a little more complicated. We'll look at that next.
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