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Intellectual Property & Copyright - HEOA Copyright Compliance Plan
The Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) was signed into law on August 14, 2008. Proposed regulations for implementing the act were issued by the Department of Education on August 21, 2009. Enforcement of the HEOA provisions formally started on July 1, 2010, and all colleges and universities were expected to be in compliance.
Several sections of the HEOA deal with unauthorized file sharing on campus networks. The HEOA imposes three general requirements on all U.S. colleges and universities.
- An annual disclosure to students describing copyright law and campus policies related to violating copyright law must be made available.
- A plan to "effectively combat the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted materials" by users of its network, including "the use of one or more technology-based deterrents" must be in place and active.
- Institutions must have in place a plan to "offer an alternative(s) to illegal downloading."
NDSU Controls to Effectively Combat Copyright Infringement
Annual copyright notice, policies, and published documents relating to copyright law and copyright infringement:
NDSU has developed and published an Annual Copyright Notice. This notice is sent out Fall and Spring semesters via e-mail to all students, faculty, and staff. Other relevant links pertaining to copyright law include:
NDSU Policy 158 - Acceptable Use of Electronic Communication Devices
https://www.ndsu.edu/policy
NDSU Policy 190 - Intellectual Property
https://www.ndsu.edu/policy
Technology-based Deterrents Used by NDSU
Mechanisms Used to Educate the NDSU Community
- When community members (faculty, students, and staff) activate their IT services, they must accept that they will follow the acceptable use policy that has language pertaining to copyright infringement and how it relates to NDSU policy and law.
- NDSU employees and faculty are educated during new employee and new faculty orientation sessions.
- Incoming students new-to-NDSU are educated during orientation sessions.
- Training and awareness presentations are available upon request for copyright and fair use.
- Various colleges and departments have intellectual property committees that provide adjudication and resolution for students who plagiarize or violate copyright law and policy.
- Those who have violated copyright and fair use policy must visit with IT Security for verification that the material and applications used in the violation are removed from their device. In addition, they must appear before a member of Student Life in a sanction hearing. Sanctions may include but are not limited to writing reflective papers, research papers, letters of warning, and possibly termination of their university career.
- Unsecured wireless and personal wireless routers are not allowed on the campus proper and in residence life.
- All wireless access to the network must be authenticated and secure.
- NDSU policies and handbooks that are specific to or mention copyright and fair use include:
NDSU Policy 158 Acceptable Use of Electronic Communication Devices
NDSU Policy 190 Intellectual Property
NDSU Student Code of Behavior