Intellectual Property

Fair Use of the Library Resources

Photocopy textbook and journal articles

I. Reasonable boundary of photocopying textbooks for fair use

A. the public, especially students, has concerns about photocopying textbooks. These are some FAQs, such as: Could student photocopy textbook for class use? Would photocopy textbook violate the Copyright Act? If photocopy is allowed, the what extend can the user copy? If not the whole book, the what is the range for fair use?

B. Regarding photocopying textbooks, there are regulations about reasonable fair use in the Copyright Act. In accordance with the following regulations to copy the textbook will not violate the copyright.

1. According to Article 46-1 in Copyright Act, within the scope necessary for the purposes of education, all levels of legally established schools or educational institutions and their teachers may publicly broadcast or publicly transmit the works of another person that have been publicly released. Students can copy textbooks for class use. The scope necessary for the purpose of education means the content copied should be relevant to the lecture. For the practical use and objective standards, photocopy a reasonable scope is accepted. However, copying the whole book can hardly seem as a reasonable scope, and will violate the copyright.
2. According to Act 48 in Copyright Act, student can request the university library to reproduce of a part of a textbook, or a single article from a periodical within the limit of copy per person.
3. According to Act 51, within a reasonable scope, where for nonprofit use by an individual, a work may be reproduced by a machine that is either located in a library or a domestic copy machine for education use. There are coin copy machines or prepaid card copy machine for students to use. Under this circumstance, student can copy the textbook.
4. According to Article 65, if the student needs to use the textbook which the copyrights belong to the author but the part of the use scope is small, which does not constitute an infringement on the economic rights, and within the reasonable scope, it is possible to make the copy can be made at the printing shop or the copy machine in the convenience store. In this circumstance, the student and the printing shop do not violate the Copyright Act.
5. However, there is no general term on what extent counts as a reasonable scope. It has to discuss case by case, and all circumstances shall be considered. But it is for sure that photocopying the entire textbook exceeds the reasonable scope and will definitely constitute infringement.

II. Legal responsibility for illegal photocopying of textbooks

A. Photocopying is one of the methods of reproduction. Unauthorized photocopying textbooks and exceeding the reasonable fair use scope, it is deemed as illegally reproduction of other’s work and constitutes the infringement of the copyrights.

B. When photocopying the textbook illegally, if the student gave it to the copy shop to reproduce the work, since the copy shop is a profit unit, no matter how many copies or the price, as the copyright holder files the complaint, the copy shop will bear the civil and criminal liabilities.

C. The student who engages in illegal photocopying personally will bear the civil liabilities. If the copyright holder files the complaint, the student will bear the criminal liabilities. When doing this, the library or self-service printing shop that provides the copy machine knows about this, it is possible to be seen as an accomplice or helper of constituting the infringement of the copyright. In this circumstance, the library and the self-service printing shop will bear both civil and criminal liabilities. (Text from Intellectual Property Office)

Instructor using video/ clips in the class for educational purpose and copyrights concerns.

If the instructor wants assist the instruction or raise students’ interests in learning, or the student social club wants to screen the video for non-profit purpose, they need to use the public screening edition or the edition that has authorized for NTNU to use on the campus. The public screening edition cannot be screened outside the authorized area. As the library is a public place, therefore the private screening edition is only for borrowing only and cannot be viewed in the library.

School teacher, based on nonprofit educational purpose, plays on the video that is related to the course, the quality and quantity ratio of the original work is low, and the results will not cause the market value alternative effect. In this case, the instructor can apply Article 52 to use the part of the video as instruction content and play it in the class without a license from the copyright owner. However, it is hard to tell to what extent is reasonable scope. It needs to be discussed case by case. Playing the entire movie, video recording, or a substantial part of it, surely will cause the exploitation of the work’s potential market value. (For example, if the movie was screened in the class, then the students do not need to visit the cinema, rent or buy the recording, or DVD to watch.) Exceeding the reasonable scope should obtain the license, otherwise may result in the infringement of copyrights. (Second part of the text: Intellectual Property Office.)

Electronic resources

The library patron can save, print and download a reasonable scope of the electronic full-text resources. In determining whether the exploitation of work complies with the reasonable scope, please refer to Article 65 in the Copyright Act and relevant legal explanation.

Please do not download full-text resources substantially or systematically, nor reproduce, retain or distribute the full-text resources. No modification, revision, translation or any creation derivates on other’s full text is allowed without the author’s consent.

E-journal and e-book system suppliers have the monitor system. If the user downloads massive full text, the IP address can be traced and reported to the library. If the user violates the legal act, the students will be given warnings and demerit according to Article 8 and 9 in Regulations for National Taiwan Normal University Student Rewards and Penalties.