Teaching exemption

Under the Copyright Act, teachers are exempt from copyright infringement claims for performing copyrighted works in certain contexts. Performance of a work done in the course of face-to-face instruction in a classroom (or a similar place devoted to instruction), or performances done as part of instructional activities of a nonprofit institution, may not be an infringement of copyright.

Another teaching exemption removes particular works from infringement of the performance right in the context of distance education. Id. §110(2). This provision is known as the Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act (TEACH Act).