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Educators, without regard to or knowledge of copyright restrictions, sometimes duplicate materials illegally or load software without license. Such copying, seemingly convenient and unnoticeable, is, in fact, stealing.

Copying and using selected parts of copyrighted works for specific educational purposes qualifies as fair use

Copyright laws do allow teachers some uses of some copyrighted materials. Fair use guidelines consider: The purpose of the use (educational vs. commercial) The nature of the work (published and fact-based vs. highly creative) The amount of the work used The market effect of the use on the work.

The educational exemption applies if:The copyrighted material is used in a classroom or school library.The material is used as a part of face-to-face instruction with students. A teacher must be in charge and the material must relate directly to the subject being taught. The amount of the work used is only as much as is required for this lesson.The material must be legally acquired. (Purchased, rented, or borrowed from a library.)

Fortunately, the Copyright Act contains a special exception for educational uses of copyrighted materials. Under w

hat is known as the"fair use" rule, someone other than the copyright owner may make limited use of a copyrighted work w

ithout permission for purposes such as teaching, research, scholarship, criticism, parody and news reporting.