3.27.1 Copyright Clearance Procedure

Purpose

To provide guidance on clearing the copyright of materials prior to use. This procedure applies to employees and students at Riverland Community College.

Procedural Steps

Please contact the Vice President of Technology and Learning Resources at Riverland for copyright questions.

Employees and students are responsible for clearing the copyright of materials before use. Clearing the copyright of a copyrighted work may be done by determining that a proposed use is authorized by the Copyright Act; conducting a fair use or TEACH Act analysis; determining the materials are in the public domain or are not eligible for copyright protection; determining the materials are available through an open or Creative Commons license; are an Open Educational Resource; or by obtaining written permission from the copyright holder. Permissions obtained from a copyright holder, such as a digital or hard copy of a Creative Commons License, must be retained in accordance with the applicable records retention schedule at the college or university.

Definitions

Copyright

A form of protection granted by federal law for original works of authorship that are fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Copyright covers both published and unpublished works.

Copyright Clearance

The act or process by which a person ensures a proposed use of materials complies with copyright law.

Generated Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence models that can generate high-quality text, images, and other content based on the data they were trained on.

• Generative AI work

  A work created by generative AI.

• Copyrightable generative AI work

  A work containing AI-generated material with sufficient human authorship, such as when a human selects or arranges AI-generated material in a creative way or modifies material originally generated by AI technology.

• Non-copyrightable generative AI work – a work containing AI-generated material that lacks sufficient human authorship.

Related Policies or Forms

Minnesota State Board Policy 3.27 and Procedure 3.27.1

Submit completed form and policy to the Cabinet Member responsible for the division affected by the proposal. This section to be completed by President’s Office.

Date Implemented: May 2025

Responsible Division / Author: Education / VP of TLR

Date Revised: Separated procedure from policy September 2025