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The principle of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 is to protect copyrighted works against technological measures that may unfairly exploit authors and publishers by allowing unauthorized copying. The "fair use" of copyright works has been preserved, and nonprofit libraries and educational institutions can use available technology to preview materials "for the purpose of making a good faith determination as to whether they wish to obtain authorized access to the work." This means you can borrow a colleague's copy of a computer program and try it on your computer to see if it is something you would like to buy. The most important section of this law limits the liability of nonprofit educational institutions when their technology is used by a student or staff member to "pirate" copyright material. For example, a high school student uses the Internet at school to download the contents of a CD and burns off copies of the CD on school equipment. The student then sells or gives they away. This is clearly a violation of copyright law, but it is the student, not the institution, that is liable. The law directs the Copyright Office to "consult with affected parties and make recommendations to Congress on how to promote distance education through digital technologies." It allows nonprofit libraries and archives to make a non-digital archival copy of a work or up to three digital copies for use within the library.
The U.S. Copyright Law Act recognizes that all intellectual works (programs data, pictures, articles, books, etc.) are automatically covered by copyright unless it is explicitly noted to the contrary. That means that the owner of a copyright holds the exclusive right to reproduce and distribute his work.
A 1990 modification to the Copyright Law made it illegal to "loan, lease, or rent software" for purposes of direct or indirect commercial advantage without the specific permission of the copyright holder. Non-profit educational institutions are exempted from the 1990 modification, so institutional software may be loaned.
"Fair Use" copies of software for educational purposes only is a cloudy issue. The "fair use" amendments to the copyright law are intended to allow educational use of legally copy protected products, but it is limited (for paper-based products) to small portions of full works. For most software it is clearly illegal to make and distribute unauthorized, fully-functional copies to class members for their individual use. Making copies of a small section of code from a program to illustrate a programming technique might not be a violation. It is best to clear any such use with the copyright owner.
University of Texas Crash Course in Copyright
Copyright resources and clear explanations
Created on
March 8th, 2001.
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