Skip to Main Content

Copyright

This section describes how you may use works in the classroom. The law provides broad permission for most classroom activities.

Follow the steps given in section 5 of this guide, “When Copyright Permission Is Needed,” modified as follows. 

The following is not an infringement of copyright:

“Performance or display of a work by instructors or pupils in the course of face-to-face teaching activities of a nonprofit educational institution, in a classroom or similar place devoted to instruction, unless, in the case of a motion picture or other audio-visual work, the performance, or the display of individual images, is given by means of a copy that was not lawfully made . . . and that the person responsible for the performance knew or had reason to believe was not lawfully made.” 

§110 (1), Copyright Act

Sample Scenarios

Q:  I use PowerPoint slides to supplement my course lectures. May I include on them cartoons, graphs, or other images that I copied from elsewhere? 

A:  Yes. This use is justified by the copyright exemption described in this chapter. But be sure to exercise good scholarly practice by citing your sources.

 

Q:  May I show a documentary or play a piece of music in class?

A:  Yes. These uses are justified by the copyright exemption described in this section.