I am a teacher/student and I wish to use certain online materials for teaching/schoolwork. Do I need to get permission to do so?

Schools and students of non-profit educational institutions will be permitted to use resources from the Internet for educational purposes (see Copyright Act 2021 section 83 for the full list of such institutions), provided the following conditions are met:

• the material must be free to access from the Internet;

• the user must cite the Internet source and the date when the material was accessed;

• the user must give a sufficient acknowledgement of the material (i.e. identify the author and the title/description of the work), to the extent that the necessary information is available from the source;

• the user can communicate the material only on a network of the educational institution that is accessible only to the students and staff of that institution, or on MOE’s Student Learning Space; and

• the user must not know that the material is a copyright infringing work (e.g. a “pirated” copy of a movie) – if the user is notified that the material is infringing, the user must cease the use of the material and take reasonable steps to prevent any further access.
  
  

Online materials that will not qualify for this exception include those that are accessible only for a limited period that cannot be renewed or extended (e.g. under a one-time trial subscription); or under a paid subscription, whether or not the user was the person who paid for that subscription; or by circumventing an access control measure (as defined in section 423 of the Copyright Act 2021) in circumstances that constitute copyright infringement.