At no other time in American legal history has the application of copyright law been so complicated. During the past decade, advances in digital technology have presented new challenges to college faculty trying to provide their students with the best learning materials possible, while at the same time avoiding a claim of copyright infringement from the author or owner.
These same technological advances present faculty with the mirror-image challenge of ensuring that the works they create are adequately protected from unauthorized use and distribution. The goal of this webpage is to provide MMC faculty, students and employees with a fundamental understanding of copyright law in today’s environment and to articulate guidelines to follow so that they can best cope with these challenges.
Copyright law, while complicated, should not paralyze instructors, employees and students at MMC. Although the Copyright Act demands the attention of anyone planning to use third-party materials for instruction, the law enables educators to reasonably use such materials for educational purposes. With a little bit of awareness and planning, most educational uses at MMC should be allowed. However, this must be determined proactively, not retroactively. The OGC, as always, is available to assist anyone in the MMC community who faces a copyright issue.
