Abstract
Educational institutions continually work to balance between providing students with access to data and protecting copyright owner’s exclusive rights. The Copyright Act of 1976, effective in 1978, provided exemptions for live and distance education. As digital technology grew in capability, its capabilities were incorporated in distance education, but the current law did not account for technology changes. To address the gap, the Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH) Act of 2002 was enacted. The TEACH Act expanded exemptions but added rigorous institutional requirements and limitations. The requirements were difficult to interpret or implement, limiting access to the benefits, although a few institutions did succeed. The study examined successful institution’s processes, policies, and tools to define best practices with the intent of creating a TEACH Act best practice guide. A grounded theory qualitative method was used, allowing the use of multiple data sources. Data was collected in two distinct phases: a questionnaire and interviews. The questionnaire gathered data on the TEACH Act’s implementation rate, the issues impacting implementation, and successful institutions. Successful institutions participated in the interview phase providing direct and anecdotal evidence of processes and procedures. Due to low participation rates, the study could only define general best practice themes. The lack of specific best practices indicated the need for further research. The study proposed that a professional organization conduct further research to develop a series of TEACH Act best practice guides focused on specific types of copyright material to reduce conflicts and gain support of users and owners.|Keywords: TEACH Act, copyright, best practices, Fair Use