Copyright

Given the relative uncertainty about the meaning of fair use as applied to various situations, especially in the educational setting, various interested parties have proposed the creation of "guidelines" that attempt to interpret and apply the law to common circumstances.

Federal Guidelines for Off-Air Recording of Broadcast Programming

Published in the October 14, 1981 Congressional Record, pp. E4750-E4752.

1. The guidelines were developed to apply only to off-air recording by nonprofit educational institutions.
   
   
2. A broadcast program may be recorded off-air simultaneously with broadcast transmission -- (including simultaneous cable re-transmission) and retained by a nonprofit educational institution for a period not to exceed the first forty-five (45) consecutive calendar days after date of recording. Upon conclusion of such retention period, all off-air recordings must be ceased or destroyed immediately. "Broadcast programs" are television programs transmitted by television stations for reception by the general public without charge.
   
   
3. Off-air recordings may be used by individual teachers in the course of relevant teaching activities, and repeated once only when instructional reinforcement is necessary, in classrooms and similar places devoted to instruction within a single buildings, cluster, or campus, as well as in the homes of students receiving formalized home instruction, during the first ten (10) consecutive school days in the forty-five (45) day calendar day retention period. "School days" are school session days--not counting weekends, holidays, vacations, examination periods, or other scheduled interruptions--within the forty-five (45) calendar day retention period.
   
   
4. Off-air recordings may be made only at the request of and used by individual teachers, and may not be regularly recorded in anticipation of requests. No broadcast program may be recorded off-air more than once at the request of the same teacher, regardless of the number of times the program may be broadcast.
   
   
5. A limited number of copies may be reproduced from each off-air recording to meet the legitimate needs of teachers under these guidelines. Each such additional copy shall be subject to all provisions governing the original recording.
   
   
6. After the first ten (10) consecutive school days, off-air recordings may be used up to the end of the forty-five (45) calendar day retention period only for teacher evaluation purposes, i.e., to determine whether or not to include the broadcast program in the teaching curriculum, and may not be used in the recording institution for student exhibition or any other non-evaluation purpose without authorization.
   
   
7. Off-air recordings need not be used in their entirety, but the recorded programs may not be altered from their original content. Off-air recordings may not be physically or electronically combined or merged to constitute teaching anthologies or compilations.
   
   
8. All copies of off-air recordings must include the copyright notice on the broadcast programs as recorded.
   
   
9. Educational Institutions are expected to establish the appropriate control procedures to maintain the integrity of these guidelines.