Easing the Copyright Challenge

Abstract

The Copyright Clearance Center is launching a program to link its services with the Blackboard course management system. The center was created by Congress in the late 1970s to help businesses and academics obtain appropriate permissions from copyright holders. The new Copyright Permissions Building Block will allow users of Blackboard, which is implemented on about 1,200 campuses, to tie directly into the Copyright Clearance Center when creating a course. Many faculty are unsure about when permissions are needed to use copyrighted material in a course and when they are not, exposing themselves and their universities to possible copyright violations. The new tool will protect faculty and their institutions from such risks while ensuring that the rights of copyright holders are respected. Officials from the Copyright Clearance Center said they hope to add the functionality to other vendors' course management systems.