Can school choirs or string orchestras use a photocopied sheet of music instead of buying the whole book?

Can school choirs or string orchestras use a photocopied sheet of music instead of buying the whole book?

School choirs, string orchestras, and concert bands often require sheet music for competitions or regular practice. However, a single book may contain only one or two pieces that need to be practiced. If every book needs to be purchased, the costs can be quite high for students. Can we just photocopy the specific song needed from a single book and distribute it to classmates? Is using just one piece of music from a book considered fair use?

Sheet music is protected as "musical works" under copyright law, and photocopying it constitutes reproduction regulated by copyright law. Therefore, unless it falls within the scope of fair use, permission from the copyright owner is required. The provisions related to fair use in educational settings regarding sheet music generally include reproductions for teaching purposes under Section 46, library reproductions under Section 48, and private reproductions under Section 51, which we will analyze for applicability:

1. Reproduction for teaching purposes
Section 46 of the copyright law states: "I. Schools established by law and their teaching staff may reproduce works that have been publicly published for teaching needs within a reasonable scope. II. The exceptions outlined in Section 44 apply to the previous provision." Practice or competition activities of school choirs or orchestras fall under educational activities, and reproduction of publicly published works should be permitted within a "reasonable scope." The issue lies in whether reproducing another's sheet music for students would cause economic harm to the composer. The author believes that just as one cannot claim fair use for another's mock exam questions, the market for sheet music primarily targets students and musicians in various choirs and orchestras. Allowing schools or teachers to claim fair use would deprive publishers of profits, leading them to be unwilling to pay royalties to composers for publishing sheet music, ultimately harming the composer's rights. According to Section 46, fair use should not be claimed.

2. Library reproductions
Section 48 of the copyright law states: "Publicly accessible libraries, museums, historical societies, science centers, art museums, or other educational institutions may reproduce works in their collection under the following circumstances: 1. Upon request by a reader for personal research, reproducing a part of a publicly published work or a single article from a journal or a publicly published conference proceedings, limited to one copy per person. 2. When necessary for preserving data. 3. For out-of-print or difficult-to-obtain works, upon request by similar institutions." Schools typically have libraries or resource rooms, and if the library can purchase the sheet music required by students for practice, and since sheet music usually comprises multiple pieces, claiming fair use under Section 48 is possible. However, since sheet music is not a journal or publicly published conference proceedings, whether reproducing a single piece from a score counts as "a part" is debatable. Compared to Section 46, the opportunity for fair use is higher.

3. Private reproductions
Section 51 of the copyright law states: "For personal or family non-commercial purposes, works that have been publicly published may be reproduced within a reasonable scope using libraries and non-publicly accessible machines." This provision primarily requires non-dissemination; if a teacher buys a sheet music book and asks students to print 30 or 40 copies of a specific piece at the library, fair use cannot be claimed under this provision. However, if students individually go to the library to print their copies, since Taiwan's copyright law does not exclude entire books and sheet music from the scope of private reproduction, there may be grounds for claiming fair use.

In conclusion, the author believes that if a school or teacher wants to photocopy and distribute a single piece of music needed by students, the scope for fair use is quite limited, and they should obtain the copyright owner's authorization. However, individual students may have the opportunity to claim fair use under Sections 48 and 51 when reproducing a single piece of music from a whole score at the school library, pending further confirmation from judicial practice.

• The content of this article is sourced from the website of the Intellectual Property Office, Ministry of Economic Affairs
• Authors: Lai Wenzhi, Wang Wenjun