The Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization (or TEACH) Act provides expanded educational usage of protected works when used in accredited distance education courses. This Act only comes into effect when a course is conducted primarily online rather than using face-to-face instruction; classes that are not expressly classified as distance courses are NOT covered under this Act. The usage must be accompanied by mediated instructional activities and limited only to the students enrolled in the specific course. Further, the digitalization of analog materials is expressly forbidden unless such materials are not available digitally and are strictly limited to usage in the class.
The scope of this provision is limited in such a way as to discourage user downloading or distribution of the work. Works created for classroom instruction (such as textbooks, video courses, or other classroom resources) or for distance learning are specifically exempted from this provision – if an instructor wishes to include such works they must seek permission from the copyright holder. Please see the TEACH Act Checklist and the text of the TEACH Act (in the Appendix) for more thorough information.