Carol,
I am wondering how homeschool co-op tutors or teachers can present copyrighted material. For example, if a teacher is sharing information from a particular curriculum for her group’s use isn’t she sharing materials that don’t belong to her for group use?
Lindsay
Lindsay,
In general, simply purchasing a book does not entitle the purchaser to copy it. In other words, only the author holds the right to copy the book. A homeschool parent or teacher may own a physical copy of a book, but she does not have the right to make copies.
Fair use does NOT mean “It’s fair (free) for me to use because I bought it.”
Nope, sorry that is NOT what fair use means.
Fair use means brief excerpts of copyright material may, under certain circumstances, be quoted verbatim for purposes such as criticism, news reporting, and teaching.
Here’s what you cannot do:
- Do not share digital files with other homeschool families or your students.
- Do not do not post digital files on your website or the group’s website.
- Do not reproduce any item that is sold as a consumable (worksheets, workbooks, etc.). A new copy should be purchased for each child.*
- Don’t resell consumable workbooks.
- Don’t stand at a copy machine and run copies of a book, workbook, textbook, etc. If all you want is a short excerpt, ask permission of the author or publisher.
- Do not share “freebies” of digital download you received. Just because you received it for free does not mean you can spread it around for free. Only the copyright holder (usually the author) can do that.
- Do not use a page protector with a consumable workbook (the child writes on the page protector allowing multiple uses or resell of the consumable book).
*Sometimes an author or publisher does allow teachers to make copies for a class or a parent to make copies for use within the family. But these are exceptions to the general law that only the author holds the right to copy a book. When in doubt ask permission of the author or publisher to reproduce or resell consumable workbooks.
Here’s what you legally can do:
- Ask permission from the publisher or author to make copies for your household.
- You can share a link for your homeschool friends to buy their own copies.
- You may buy a license to print of copies of a consumable product. Many publishers will sell you a license to print off a set number of copies for a discounted price.
- You should buy additional copies of consumable workbooks/worksheets for each child.
Here’s a video of a Google Hangout with a panel discussing copyright issues for homeschoolers. https://youtu.be/Wk32_SZEpDw
Here are some great websites that addresses copyright law in homeschooling.
Honor Copyright from IHomeschool Network
If you need more information on running a homeschool co-op, please check out my other available resources: Books for Homeschool leaders
I hope that helps,
Carol Topp, CPA
HomeschoolCPA.com
