In 2004, Congress passed the Teaching, Education, And Copyright Harmonization Act (“TEACH Act”) in order to enable universities to comply with United States copyright law while providing distance online education.  The TEACH Act provides universities and their faculty a safe harbor from copyright liability if several conditions are met.  A university must (i) have in place a copyright policy, (ii) make educational materials on copyright available to faculty and staff, (iii) create technological safeguards to protect the copyrighted materials that are made digitally available to students, and include appropriate copyright notices. 

In an effort to comply with the terms of the TEACH Act and empower faculty and afford them the opportunity to use certain copyrighted materials on-line in a legal manner, Villanova University has adopted a copyright policy.  The new copyright policy is separate from the pre-existing Intellectual Property Policy found in the Faculty Handbook, which remains in place.