If a teacher creates teaching materials using images or photos from the internet to increase student interest, can they claim fair use?

If a teacher creates teaching materials using images or photos from the internet to increase student interest, can they claim fair use?

Teachers often photocopy other people's books and articles for teaching needs. In today's world, where information is transmitted more easily through the internet, using articles and images published online to create teaching materials makes the teacher's materials richer and more diverse. However, these actions involve the concept of 'reproduction' under copyright law. Reproducing copyrighted works within the scope of fair use does not require permission from the copyright owner and can be freely used. However, if it exceeds the scope of fair use, prior authorization from the copyright owner is necessary to avoid infringing on others' copyright.

For school teachers, copyright law specifically states reasonable use in Article 46, which clarifies that “Schools established by law and the teaching staff are allowed to reproduce publicly published works for teaching needs within a 'reasonable scope.'”

What exactly constitutes the reasonable scope of reproduction for teaching needs? The law does not specify a clear quantity, but generally speaking, it must relate to the content of the course, and the quality or quantity of the reproduction should not exceed objective standards. For instance, copying one English magazine article for use in an English class is related to the course content; however, copying mathematics-related works for a geography class would not be considered reasonable. Moreover, if a teacher reproduces 100 pages of someone else's work while teaching from a 10-page textbook, it is also unlikely to be seen as reasonable. Therefore, how to use and to what extent is considered reasonable must be determined based on the specific circumstances of each case. If there is a dispute about the reasonable scope between the copyright owner and the teaching teacher, it ultimately needs to be resolved by judicial authorities.

The Intellectual Property Office has summarized several key points regarding the reasonable scope of reproduction by teachers for teaching needs, based on practices in the United States and Hong Kong, which are provided for readers' reference:

1. Basic Principles:

1. Textbooks designated for class should not be replaced by photocopies.
2. The materials photocopied by teachers for teaching purposes should not create a market substitution effect for already published and sold collections, compilations, or sets of teaching materials.
3. Teachers should assess the necessity of reproducing others' works themselves rather than being influenced by third parties' requests or instructions.
4. The reasonable use for teaching is based on temporary needs arising during teaching, making it unreasonable to expect timely permission for authorization due to time constraints.
5. If the same teacher reproduces the same material repeatedly each semester, they should seek authorization from the rights holder.
6. The photocopy should indicate the author, title, source, date of reproduction, etc., and students should be informed of the copyright information and reminded to respect copyright and not to reproduce or copy it for others.

2. Regarding the quantity or proportion of reproduction:

1. For personal use by the teacher, the reproduction is limited to one copy: for academic research, teaching, or teaching preparation, the teacher can copy one of the following works based on their personal needs: (1) a chapter from a book; (2) an article from a journal or newspaper; (3) a short story, essay, or poem, regardless of whether it is from a collection; (4) one chart, graph, diagram, drawing, cartoon, or picture from a book, journal, or newspaper.
2. For use in the classroom for students, multiple copies can be reproduced: (1) each photocopy is limited to one copy per student in the relevant course; (2) the proportion of each work used should be short: a. Poetry: not exceeding 250 words; stories or articles: not exceeding 2500 words (the word limit can be increased to reproduce an unfinished line of poetry or an unfinished paragraph of a story or article). b. Art works (including illustrations): the entire work; if one page contains more than one piece of artwork, the entire page can be reproduced. c. Music works: the relevant excerpt should not exceed 10% of the total pages of the work (the percentage can be increased to reproduce an entire page). d. Other works: the relevant excerpt should not exceed 2500 words or 10% of the total pages of the work (including illustrations), whichever is less (the word limit or percentage can be increased to reproduce an entire page). (3) The proportion of works used from the same book or journal: if from the same author, short poems, articles, and stories should not exceed one piece; summaries should not exceed two pieces; from the same collection, journal, or magazine, not exceeding three pieces. For articles in newspapers, during the same academic year for the same course, not exceeding 15 works. (4) The total number of reproduced works during the same academic year should not exceed 27 pieces.

• The content of the above article is sourced from The Intellectual Property Office Website
• Authors: Lai Wenzhi, Wang Wenjun

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