VCOM Faculty Handbook

Copyright is a legal right, grounded in the United States Constitution, that gives the owner of said copyright the exclusive rights to: • Reproduce (make copies of ) the work; and • Modify or prepare derivative works based on the work (Examples of derivative works include translations, transforming printed works into musicals or films, rearrangements of scores, and any other recast, transformation, or adaptation of a work); and • Distribute the work in any format by sale, publication, license, rental, or for free; and • Publicly perform or display the work; and • Authorize others to exercise some or all those rights VCOM regards any violation of the Copyright and Fair Use Policy as a serious offence. Violators of this policy are subject to VCOM’s disciplinary actions as prescribed in the College Catalog and Student Handbook , Faculty Handbook ; and the Administrative and Classified Staff Handbook . Intellectual Property of Instructional Materials Instructional materials created as a part of an employee’s position at VCOM is the intellectual property of VCOM. To carry out its mission, VCOM retains a non-exclusive, no-cost license to use, reuse, reproduce, display, distribute, and make derivative works (such as compilations, archives, or composite works) of instructional materials for the education of its students. Instructional materials may include syllabi, course descriptions, reading lists, assignments, slides, lecture notes, lab exercises, tools, simulations, multimedia, web pages, exams, student assignments, and recorded discussions. In accordance with academic custom, VCOM will acknowledge the authors of these works unless the authors request otherwise. Policy R005, Intellectual Properties and Agreements Policies and Procedures, provides additional information on the ownership and use of intellectual property. Fair Use Doctrine Copyright law recognizes that not all uses of copyrighted works infringe the rights of the copyright owner. Section 107 of the Copyright Act states: Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. "Fair use" of works do not require permission. Four factors are considered in determining whether a particular use is fair or not. Nonprofit educational purposes are generally favored in the application of the four factors of fair use, but an educational use does not by itself make the use a "fair use." No single factor dictates whether a particular use is fair use. All four factors must be considered in making a determination. • What is the purpose of the use? Fair use favors any use that is nonprofit, educational, or personal, especially if it is for teaching, research, scholarship, criticism, commentary, or news reporting. Fair use does not favor uses that are commercial, for profit, or for entertainment purposes. It is important to remember that not all educational uses are fair use. Transformative uses that transform or modify the original purpose of the work and contribute new intellectual value to the original work are often considered fair use. • What is the nature of the work? Since authors should have final say over when and how their works are published, fair use tends to favor VCOM reserves the right to terminate employees who knowingly violate copyright policies.

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