3.2 Copyright Considerations for Content

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Almost everything falls under copyright law.  Whether there is a copyright notice on it or not, you should presume it is copyrighted until you have evidence otherwise.  So how do you tell if you can use a document, video, image or audio clip in your class legally? 

Note: what is described on this page is copyright guidance for normal circumstances.  The next page describes certain ways in which copyright restrictions have been relaxed during COVID-19.  If you spend time pulling together resources in Canvas for your students now and then want to use them when you return to campus-based teaching, you'll want to take care to make decisions now that support copyright compliance so that you don't have to make changes post-pandemic!

Can I legally reuse other people's content, graphics, and audio?

If you are embedding media (for example, embedding a YouTube or Kaltura video into your course page like the Creative Commons one below) or if you are linking to an outside source (like the link below to Columbia University), that is not affected by copyright.  You are merely pointing students to the original source of the work, not duplicating or redistributing the work in any way.  

NOTE: Be cautious of linking to YouTube videos where it is clear that content was uploaded by someone other than the copyright holder (low video quality and/or the YouTube username account being something other than the organization that would have produced the content are red flags).  These videos are more likely to be removed from the site, and you may lose them in the middle of your course.

If you are not embedding from or linking to an outside source, look for three types of content that make allowances for use without requesting permission from (and potentially paying a fee to) the copyright holder for education-related uses: public domain, Creative, Commons, and fair use.

Public Domain

Copyright does not apply to works in the public domain; this includes general facts, words, ideas, names, short phrases (that are not trademarked slogans), method, content written or produced by the US government, and works old enough that copyright has expired.  For more information on public domain works, please see the Columbia University copyright site Links to an external site..

Creative Commons

If the copyright holder has chosen Creative Commons (CC) licensing, you may use the work based on the CC terms. Creative Commons Links to an external site. and other Open Access publishing options Links to an external site. allow copyright holders the ability to allow reuse of their works but still retain some rights under US law. For more on Creative Commons licensing, please see the following video.

Download Transcript of Creative Commons Kiwi

Credit for Video: Creative Commons Kiwi Links to an external site. by Creative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand Links to an external site. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand Links to an external site. (CC BY) license.

Fair Use

If you are using a small amount of a larger work, using it in a limited way, and controlling who can access the work, you may be able to use it under Fair Use guidelines. Fair Use means using a copyrighted work:

for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include—the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; the nature of the copyrighted work; the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

(17 USC Section 107 Links to an external site.)

Only a court of law can determine if your use of copyright materials falls under fair use.  To check if your planned use leans toward Fair Use, try the Fair Use Checklist.

What about Images from the Internet?

One thing to keep in mind is that images are not a special case.  Everything on the internet should be presumed to be fully protected by copyright law - including images - unless it specifically states otherwise.  There are many images that are freely available to use with or without attribution through public domain or Creative Commons licenses but they’re not necessarily easy to find.  The following websites are good places to begin with your image search:

For more information regarding copyright in classroom use, please check out the OSU Libraries instructor guide to copyright.

Finished here?

Select "Next" to go to the next page and learn more about additional copyright allowances for classroom use during COVID.