Copyright Issues in Teaching with Technology

Liability for Infringement
For the most part, copyright is civil law, not criminal law. Unless you make and sell pirate copies of videotapes or computer software or enjoy some other financial gain, you could be sued for copyright infringement but not sent to prison. The copyright holder has the choice of seeking statutory damages, which can be as much as $150,000 per instance if the plaintiff can prove in court that the infringement was willful, or actual damages to recover lost revenues. If you haven’t made a business out of the infringements, the former is more likely.

You are liable for damages even if you did not realize you were committing an infringement. However, section 504 of the law (which for some reason is entitled “Remedies for infringement,” as if it is a substitute for ibuprofen) provides that college employees, including faculty, may not be subject to statutory damages “in any case where the infringer believed and had reasonable grounds for believing that his or her use of the copyrighted work was a fair use under section 107...” Thus, according to this “good faith fair use defense,” if you were truly convinced that your use of the protected materials was fair use and have left no evidence to the contrary, you may (emphasize may, at the discretion of the court) escape statutory damages, even if the act in question was not fair use. On the other hand, you will be liable for your own attorney’s fees, and the court may direct you to pay for the plaintiff’s legal costs as well, and these can be significant.

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