Copyright & Fair Use

Streaming Media is video and/or audio that is viewed on a computer, tablet or phone but not saved to the device.  Video/audio data packets are delivered to the device, displayed then discarded.  No copies are being distributed to your audience, only viewed.

Streaming Media Services can be arranged for your course use through the Instructional Technology Department.  Media is uploaded to our servers, encoded to a common format and presented as embedded content for your course pages.

Streaming Media Services provides audio-video content in a compressed form over the Internet to be played immediately.  Media is sent as a continuous stream of data that plays as it arives on your device. No media is saved on the user's device.  Users can pause, rewind or fast-forward, just as they could with a downloaded file, unless the content is being streamed live.

As with Fair Use guidelines for printed materials, there are no static percentage of permissible use of a video/audio composition to help us define "reasonable."  There are several limitations, however.

·         Media streams may only be of lawfully acquired works.

·         The content must be used in a manner as the instructor would use it in face-to-face in-class presentations,

·         Streaming media provided by the University (e.g. non-library resources) should only be made available through the current Learning Management System (L.M.S.) for use in online courses.  An L.M.S. (like Canvas) restricts media stream access to currently enrolled students in a course for a limited period of time.

·         Streaming of the media must not interfere with the publisher's revenue stream. 

o   If the content is offered online as a streaming license, we may not stream it from our local streaming services. 

o   If the content is something that is normally licensed to the student, we may not stream it locally.

The pamphlets linked below offer a good summary of Fair Use and the TEACH Act allowances. 

Recent publications from the Sloan-C 2011 Workshop "Fair Use and the TEACH Act - A Closer Look" with release to distribute from Linda K. Enghagen, J.D.