Poised for Innovation

Better Decisions

Sound Risk Management

Poised for Innovation: A well-informed campus is in a better position to avail itself of the many innovative uses copyright law supports.

• Most university counsel consider it part of their responsibility to support the academic mission of the university. That means, more often than not, helping faculty and staff to find lawful ways to do what they need to do rather than just telling them no.

• Copyright law should be focused on "do's", not "don'ts". The risk of embracing overly restrictive policies is that what was originally intended as minimum permissible uses becomes the maximum. Adoption of unnecessarily restrictive policies marginalizes your own role and often results in wasted time and resources as projects are forced to be redone.

Better Decisions: A well-informed campus will make better decisions when using copyrighted materials in its teaching and research activities.

• When faculty and staff possess the knowledge and tools to make reasonable good-faith decisions about using copyrighted materials themselves, it is a win-win situation for all involved. Teaching and research moves forward in a streamlined, efficient fashion and less of your time is devoted to individual copyright use questions.

Sound Risk Management: It’s sound risk-management practice, i.e., preventive counseling.

• Most university counsel strive to reduce the likelihood of problems before they occur, particularly those that have the potential to expose the university to lawsuits. Promoting copyright education and awareness on your campus does just that. It is how you manage the risk of copyright infringement recognizing that it is unrealistic to think you can eliminate it.

• Overly restrictive copyright use policies don't protect your university because such policies simply don't comport with the reality of higher education. Unrealistic and unnecessary policies are likely to be ignored - except by opposing counsel in litigation! You may well end up being hoisted on your own petard.

• Copyright law contains a wealth of important limitations on the copyright holder's exclusive rights that are foundational for teaching and research activities on your campus, especially those found in Section 107 (Fair Use), Section 108 (Library Exemptions), Section 110 (Performance and Display Rights, Section 512 (Safe Harbor for Internet Service Providers), and Section 504 (Good Faith Fair Use Defense). Qualification for some of these exemptions actually requires that the entity intending to exercise them have copyright policies and copyright education resources in place.

• Finally, universities are under increasing scrutiny by the copyright holder industries and Congress concerning their use of copyrighted materials, particularly music trading by their students, but also in areas like electronic reserves and online course materials. It is critical that universities demonstrate, through campus copyright educational efforts and confident exercise of rights, that they are committed and responsible users who take intellectual property seriously. This will enhance your credibility and get higher education a better seat at the legislative table.

Forward to Legal Counsel Part 2

Return to Message Development