When you use a copyrighted textbook in your class, you are allowed to use copyrighted materials from the textbook in your class. This includes the following kinds of materials:
- Textbook resources available in WebAssign
- Textbook questions coded by WebAssign
- Textbook questions that you have coded (for textbooks or questions that are not available in WebAssign)
Your fair use permission to use textbook questions or resources extends only to classes for which the source textbook has been adopted for use. If you code your own textbook questions, set the question permission to Private to prevent unauthorized use by others.
In order to uphold the copyrights of textbook publishers and help prevent accidental copyright infringement by instructors, WebAssign restricts your access to copyrighted textbook questions in the following ways:
- When you search for questions in WebAssign, copyrighted textbook questions are listed only for textbooks that you are using in your current classes.
- When you create or edit an assignment, copyrighted textbook questions are included in your assignment only if the textbook is being used in one of your current classes. If you change textbooks for a course, you will therefore not be able to use your previous assignments that include content from the textbook you are no longer using.
Notwithstanding these restrictions, you, not WebAssign, have the responsibility of ensuring your compliance with the fair use provisions of U.S. copyright law.
For more information, you might want to refer to the following online resources:
- The text of the fair use provision is available from the United States Copyright Office here: www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#107.
- The American Library Association has information about copyright law and educational materials, including information about the Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH) Act, here: www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/copyright/index.cfm.