Copyright law protects rights in many forms of creative works. The US Constitution prescribes that copyright law in this country is under the jurisdiction of the federal government. Many essentials of copyright law, then, are found in the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 101 et seq.

Much of the material used in teaching is copyrighted, including computer software, books, music and photographs. Therefore, copyright law restricts our rights to copy, display, perform and distribute these works without permission. Often--though not always--one must obtain permission from the copyright owner to use one of these works.