Copyright, Permission, and Fair Use
I am not a lawyer. Nothing in this document should be taken as legal advice.
Copyright
Materials on this site typically belong to the author or creator of those materials. This is true for most educational materials developed by teachers, even while in the employ of a school or district.[1].
Copyright of a work is established "from the moment the work is created"; a more formal registration is not required (although is useful in some circumstances)[2]. Unless otherwise indicated, the materials on this site—course materials, webpages, etc.—are copyrighted by their author(s).
Permission
A variety of strategies for sharing creative work with others has arisen in recent years. Perhaps the best known are the Creative Commons licenses, about which you can learn more on their website, at creativecommons.org. Even where permission isn't explicitly given, however, Fair Use may allow for use of copyrighted materials.
Fair Use
It is possible to teachers and others to obtain permission to use copyrighted works, but in practice, many educators rely on the Fair Use doctrine of copyright law, which grants the freedom to use copyrighted materials under certain circumstances.
Fair Use is described in the first chapter of Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17), Section 107 [3]. The "too long; didn't read" analysis of this law and its interpretation might be it's complicated. The University of California has a nice summary of their interpretation of "Copyright in the Classroom" [4] with further information, but even then, bets are hedged.
"The fair use exception is purposefully broad and flexible... the suggestions below do not ensure that your use will be protected under fair use, but represent practices commonly considered to be fair use... Copying that does not fall within the guidelines stated below may nonetheless be permitted under fair use. If a proposed use is not covered by the guidelines, you should analyze the particular facts of your situation against the four factors of fair use."- University of California, Copyright in the Classroom
Classroom materials on this website—course schedules, presentations, assignments, etc.—are presented here with the understanding that other educators may find them interesting, informative, and useful in their own classroom teaching (ie. Fair Use). Except where indicated by explicit licensing (a Creative Commons license, for example), these materials should not be redistributed, reposted, reshared.
[1] Holmes, G, and Levin, D. Who Owns Course Materials Prepared by a Teacher or Professor? The Application of Copyright Law to Teaching Materials in the Internet Age. Mar 1, 2000. Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal, Vol 2000, No 1, Article 8. Retrieved 2025-11-15, https://digitalcommons.law.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1110&context=elj.
[2] Copyright.gov. Retrieved 2025-11-15, https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html#:~:text=No.,infringement%20of%20a%20U.S.%20work.
[3] Copyright Law of the United States, (Title 17), Chapter 1, Section 107. Retrieved 2025-11-15 from https://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#107.
[4] University of California: Copyright: Copyright in the Classroom. Retrieved 2025-11-15 from https://copyright.universityofcalifornia.edu/use/teaching.html#p=in_the_classroom.