For College of Biomedical Equipment Technology’s consumer information related to academics, college policy, financial aid, and more, please review the information provided below.

Privacy Policy

(LAST UPDATED: January, 2023)

College of Biomedical Equipment Technology, LLC (“CBET”) respects and understands the importance of privacy and security for our online customers and prospective students. We want you to be familiar with how we collect, use and disclose information. This Privacy Policy describes our practices in connection with information that we collect through websites operated by us or on our behalf (the “Websites”), through the software applications made available by us (unless subject to a privacy policy specific to the app) (the “Apps”), through our social media pages (our “Social Media Pages”), through HTML-formatted email messages that we send to you that link to this Privacy Policy, as well as offline interactions you may have with us (collectively, including the Websites, the Apps, our Social Media Pages, and offline activity, the “Services”).

PERSONAL INFORMATION

“Personal Information” is information that directly or indirectly identifies you as an individual or reasonably relates to an identifiable individual, which may include:

Information We Automatically Collect from You

We and our vendors collect Personal Information in a variety of ways, including:

Through the Services

• We collect Personal Information through the Services, for example, when you visit one of our sites, apply for admission, or maintain an ongoing relationship with CBET as a student.
• From you during your course of study or period of enrollment with us.
• From your offline interactions with us, such as when you complete an application for admission, fill out a form at an education or career fair, apply for a student ID card, participate in a promotion, or contact us by phone.

From Other Sources (we receive your Personal Information from other sources), for example:

• our affiliates, partners, and vendors;
• private and publicly available databases;
• application references and/or recommendation writers; and
• other educational institutions.
• If you connect your social media account to your Services account, you will share certain Personal Information from your social media account with us, for example, your name, email address, photo, list of social media contacts, and any other information that may be or you make accessible to us when you connect your social media account to your Services account.

Through your browser or device

• Certain information is collected by most browsers or automatically through your device, such as your Media Access Control (MAC) address, computer type (Windows or Mac), screen resolution, operating system name and version, device manufacturer and model, language, Internet browser type and version and the name and version of the Services (such as the App) you are using. We use this information to ensure that the Services function properly.

Through your use of the Apps

• When you download or use the Apps, we and our service providers may track and collect App usage data, such as the date and time the App on your device accesses our servers and what information and files have been downloaded to the App based on your device number.

Using cookies

• Cookies are pieces of information stored directly on the computer that you are using. Cookies allow us to collect information such as browser type, time spent on the Services, pages visited, language preferences, and other traffic data. We and our service providers use the information for security purposes, to facilitate navigation, to display information more effectively, and to personalize your experience. We also gather statistical information about use of the Services in order to continually improve their design and functionality, understand how they are used and assist us with resolving questions regarding them. Cookies further allow us to select which of our advertisements or offers are most likely to appeal to you and display them while you are on the Services. We may also use cookies or other technologies in online advertising to track responses to our ads. We do not currently respond to browser do-not-track signals. If you do not want information collected through the use of cookies, most browsers allow you to automatically decline cookies or be given the choice of declining or accepting a particular cookie (or cookies) from a particular website. You may also wish to refer to http://www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies/index.html. If, however, you do not accept cookies, you may experience some inconvenience in your use of the Services. You also may not receive advertising or other offers from us that are relevant to your interests and needs.

Using pixel tags and other similar technologies

• Pixel tags (also known as web beacons and clear GIFs) may be used to, among other things, track the actions of users of the Services (including email recipients), measure the success of our marketing campaigns, and compile statistics about usage of the Services and response rates.
• This website uses Google® Analytics Premium, a web analytics service provided by Google Ireland Limited (“Google”). Google Analytics Premium uses “cookies”, which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyze how users use the site. The information generated by the cookies about your use of the website and your current IP-address will be transmitted by your browser to and will be stored by Google on servers in the United States and other countries. On behalf of the operator of this website Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage to the website operator. The IP address collected through Google Analytics will not be associated with any other data held by Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. You may also stop the transmission of information generated by the cookies about your use of the website and of your IP address to Google, by downloading and installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
• Display Advertising. College of Biomedical Equipment Technology and its affiliates utilize Display Advertising for remarketing purposes. This involves collecting demographic data (age, gender, and interests) in Google Analytics for site optimization, remarketing, and understanding user behaviors. If you wish to opt out of this, please use the following tool. College of Biomedical Equipment Technology and its affiliates use remarketing in conjunction with Google Analytics. Third-party vendors, such as Google, may show relevant advertisements on sites across the Internet. College of Biomedical Equipment Technology, its affiliates, and third-party vendors utilize Google Analytics’ first-party cookies and Doubleclick’s third-party cookies together to inform, optimize, and serve ads based on a user’s past visits to this website. In addition, these cookies are used to report ad impressions, other uses of ad services, and interactions with the website.

Using Adobe Flash technology (including Flash Local Shared Objects (“Flash LSOs”)) and other similar technologies

• We may use Flash LSOs and other technologies to, among other things, collect and store information about your use of the Services. If you do not want Flash LSOs stored on your computer, you can adjust the settings of your Flash player to block Flash LSO storage using the tools contained in the Website Storage Settings Panel. You can also go to the Global Storage Settings Panel and follow the instructions (which may explain, for example, how to delete existing Flash LSOs (referred to as “information”), how to prevent Flash LSOs from being placed on your computer without your being asked, and how to block Flash LSOs that are not being delivered by the operator of the page you are on at the time). Please note that setting the Flash Player to restrict or limit acceptance of Flash LSOs may reduce or impede the functionality of some Flash applications.

IP Address

• Your IP address is automatically assigned to your computer by your Internet Service Provider. An IP address may be identified and logged automatically in our server log files whenever a user accesses the Services, along with the time of the visit and the page(s) that were visited. Collecting IP addresses is standard practice and is done automatically by many websites, applications and other services. We use IP addresses for purposes such as calculating usage levels, diagnosing server problems and administering the Services. We may also derive your approximate location from your IP address.

Physical Location

• We may collect the physical location of your device by, for example, using satellite, cell phone tower or WiFi signals. We may use your device’s physical location to provide you with personalized location-based services and content. We may also share your device’s physical location, combined with information about what advertisements you viewed and other information we collect, with our marketing partners to enable them to provide you with more personalized content and to study the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. In some instances, you may be permitted to allow or deny such uses and/or sharing of your device’s location, but if you do, we and/or our marketing partners may not be able to provide you with the applicable personalized services and content.

We need to collect Personal Information to provide the requested Services to you and in order to consider and maintain an academic or business relationship with you. If you do not provide the information requested, we may not be able to provide the Services, consider you for admission, or maintain your status as an enrolled student. If you disclose any Personal Information relating to other people to us or to our service providers in connection with the Services, you represent that you have the authority to do so and to permit us to use the information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Use of Personal Information

We and our affiliates, partners, and vendors use Personal Information for legitimate business purposes including:

Providing the functionality of the Services and fulfilling your requests.

• To provide the Services’ functionality to you, such as arranging access to your registered account and providing you with related assistance.
• To respond to your inquiries and fulfill your requests, when you contact us via one of our online contact forms or otherwise, for example, when you send us questions, suggestions, or complaints.
• To complete your transactions and provide you with related assistance.
• To send administrative information to you, such as changes to our terms, conditions and policies.
• To allow you to send messages to another person if you choose to do so.

We will engage in these activities to manage our contractual relationship with you and/or to comply with legal obligations.

Providing you with our newsletter and/or other marketing materials and facilitating social sharing

• To send you marketing related emails, with information about our services and other news about us.
• To facilitate social sharing functionality that you choose to use.

We will engage in this activity with your consent, where legally required, or where we have a legitimate interest.

Analysis of Personal Information for business reporting and providing personalized services.

• To analyze or predict our users’ preferences in order to prepare aggregated trend reports on how our digital content is used, so we can improve our Services.
• To better understand you, so that we can personalize our interactions with you and provide you with information and/or offers tailored to your interests.
• To better understand your preferences so that we can deliver content via our Services that we believe will be relevant and interesting to you.

We will provide personalized services either with your consent or because we have a legitimate interest.

• Allowing you to participate in sweepstakes, contests, or other promotions.
• We may offer you the opportunity to participate in a sweepstakes, contest, or other promotion.
• Some of these promotions have additional rules containing information about how we will use and disclose your Personal Information. These rules and associated material terms and conditions will be provided to you prior to your enrollment into these promotional programs.

We use this information to manage our contractual relationship with you.

Aggregating and/or anonymizing Personal Information.

• We may aggregate and/or anonymize Personal Information so that it will no longer be considered Personal Information. We do so to generate other data for our use, which we may use and disclose for any purpose, including for:
• Accomplishing our business purposes.
• For data analysis, for example, to improve the efficiency of our Services;
• For audits, to verify that our internal processes function as intended and are compliant with legal, regulatory, or contractual requirements;
• For fraud and security monitoring purposes, for example, to detect and prevent cyberattacks or attempts to commit identity theft;
• For developing new services;
• For enhancing, improving, or modifying our current services;
• For identifying usage trends, for example, understanding which parts of our Services are of most interest to users;
• For determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns, so that we can adapt our campaigns to the needs and interests of our users; and
• For operating and expanding our business activities, for example, understanding which parts of our Services are of most interest to our users so we can focus our energies on meeting our users’ interests.

Disclosure of Personal Information

College of Biomedical Equipment Technology does not sell Personal Information collected through the Services to third parties.

We disclose Personal Information:

• To partnering institutions that receive services from the College of Biomedical Equipment Technology.
• To our vendors, to facilitate services they provide to us. These can include providers of services such as website hosting, data analysis, payment processing, order fulfillment, information technology and related infrastructure provision, customer service, email delivery, auditing, and other services.
• To marketing partners, to permit them to send you marketing communications, consistent with your choices.
• To third-party sponsors of sweepstakes, contests, and similar promotions.
• By using the Services, you may elect to disclose Personal Information

On message boards, classroom discussion forums, chat, profile pages, blogs and other services to which you are able to post information and content (including, without limitation, our Social Media Pages). Please note that any information you post or disclose through these services will become public and may be available to other users and the general public.

Through your social sharing activity. When you connect your Services account with your social media account, you will share information with your friends associated with your social media account, with other users, and with your social media account provider. By doing so, you authorize us to facilitate this sharing of information, and you understand that the use of shared information will be governed by the social media provider’s privacy policy.

Other Uses and Disclosures

We also use and disclose your Personal Information, to the extent permitted by applicable laws that govern your Personal Information, when we have legal obligations or legitimate interest to do so:

To comply with applicable law. This can include laws outside your country of residence.

To respond to requests from public and government authorities. These can include authorities outside your country of residence.

To cooperate with law enforcement. For example, when we respond to law enforcement requests and orders.

For other legal reasons.

• To enforce our terms and conditions;
• In a judicial or regulatory proceeding; or
• To protect and defend our rights as well as the privacy, safety or property of our affiliates, you or others.

In connection with a sale or business transaction. We have a legitimate interest in disclosing or transferring your Personal Information to a third party in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings). Such third parties may include, for example, an acquiring entity and its advisors. We will ensure that such successor entity or purchaser will be bound by terms and conditions reasonably similar to this Privacy Policy. In the event that the recipient plans to make any material changes to the rights and disclosures stated in this Privacy Policy, we will ensure that they are obligated to provide an updated Privacy Policy to you.

OTHER INFORMATION

“Other Information” is any information that does not reveal or cannot be reasonably be used to reveal your specific identity or does not directly relate to an identifiable individual, and may include: 

• Information that has been aggregated in a manner such that it no longer reveals your specific identity
• Information that has been deidentified or pseudonymized in a manner such that it no longer reveals your specific identity

Uses and Disclosures of Other Information

We may use and disclose Other Information for any purpose, except where prohibited under applicable law.

SECURITY

We use reasonable organizational, technical and administrative measures to protect Personal Information within our organization. Unfortunately, no data transmission or storage system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure, please immediately notify us in accordance with the “Contacting Us” section below.

CHOICES AND ACCESS

Your choices regarding our use and disclosure of your Personal Information

We give you choices regarding our use and disclosure of your Personal Information for marketing purposes. You may opt-out from:

• Receiving email marketing from us: If you no longer want to receive marketing-related emails from us on a going-forward basis, you may opt-out by following the instructions contained in each such email or by contacting us at webmaster@cbet.edu.
• Receiving other types of marketing communications from us: If you no longer want to receive marketing-related communications from us on a going-forward basis, you may opt-out by contacting us at webmaster@cbet.edu.
• Our sharing of your Personal Information with affiliates for their direct marketing purposes: If you would prefer that we discontinue sharing your Personal Information on a going-forward basis with our affiliates for their direct marketing purposes, you may opt-out of this sharing by contacting us at webmaster@cbet.edu.
• Our sharing of your Personal Information with unaffiliated third parties for their direct marketing purposes: If you would prefer that we discontinue sharing your Personal Information on a going-forward basis with unaffiliated third parties for their direct marketing purposes, you may opt-out of this sharing by contacting us at webmaster@cbet.edu.
• For California residents: California Civil Code Section § 1798.83 permits California residents to annually request certain information regarding our disclosure of personal information to other entities for their direct marketing purposes in the preceding calendar year. To make such a request, please send an email to webmaster@cbet.edu with the subject “Shine the Light Request.”.

We will try to comply with your request(s) as soon as reasonably practicable. Please note that if you opt-out of receiving marketing-related communications from us, we may still send you important administrative messages, from which you cannot opt-out.

How you can access, change or delete your Personal Information

If you would like to request to review, correct, update, suppress, restrict or delete Personal Information that you have previously provided to us, or if you would like to request to receive an electronic copy of your Personal Information for purposes of transmitting it to another organization (to the extent this right to data portability is provided to you by applicable law), or if you would like to request information about how your Personal Information has been collected or disclosed, you may contact us using the “Contact Us” information below. We will respond to your request consistent with applicable law.

In your request, please make clear what Personal Information you would like to have changed, whether you would like to have your Personal Information suppressed from our database or otherwise let us know what limitations you would like to put on our use of your Personal Information. For your protection, we will only implement requests with respect to the Personal Information associated with the particular email address that you use to send us your request, and we may need to verify your identity by requesting additional documentation before implementing your request. We will try to comply with your request as soon as reasonably practicable.

Please note that we need to retain certain information for recordkeeping purposes and/or to complete any transactions that you began prior to requesting a change or deletion (e.g., when you make a payment, you may not be able to change or delete the Personal Information provided until after the completion of such transaction).

If you are a resident of California, under 18 and a registered user of the Services, you may ask us to remove content or information that you have posted to the Services by writing to us at the Contact Us address below. Please note that your request does not ensure complete or comprehensive removal of the content or information, as, for example, some of your content may have been reposted by another user.

To Exercise Your Right to Know or Right to Deletion

California residents can submit requests to know and/or for deletion by emailing us at webmaster@cbet.edu or calling us at 1-844.879.9043. California residents may make up to two requests to know within a 12-month period.

Verification: We will need to verify your identity before processing your request. In order to verify your identity, we will generally either require you to login to your account or we must be able to match certain information you provide us to the information we maintain about you. Certain requests may require us to obtain additional personal information from you. In certain circumstances, we may decline a request to exercise the right to know and/or right to deletion, particularly where we are unable to verify your identity or locate your information in our systems, or as permitted by law.

To Exercise Your Right to Opt-Out

You can opt-out by clicking Do Not Sell My Personal Information and managing your preferences in Cookies Settings

RETENTION PERIOD

We retain Personal Information for as long as needed or permitted in light of the purpose(s) for which it was obtained and consistent with applicable law. The criteria used to determine our retention periods include:

The length of time we have an ongoing relationship with you and provide the Services to you (for example, for as long as you are a student of ours);

Whether there is a legal obligation to which we are subject (for example, certain laws require us to keep records of your transactions for a certain period of time before we can delete them); or

Whether retention is advisable in light of our legal position (such as in regard to applicable statutes of limitations, litigation or regulatory investigations).

THIRD PARTY SERVICES

This Privacy Policy does not address, and we are not responsible for, the privacy, information or other practices of any third parties, including any third party operating any website or service to which the Services link. The inclusion of a link on the Services does not imply endorsement of the linked site or service by us or by our affiliates.

In addition, we are not responsible for the information collection, use, disclosure or security policies or practices of other organizations, such as Facebook, Apple, Google, Microsoft, RIM or any other app developer, app provider, social media platform provider, operating system provider, wireless service provider or device manufacturer, including with respect to any Personal Information you disclose to other organizations through or in connection with the Apps or our Social Media Pages.

THIRD PARTY ADVERTISING

We use third-party advertising companies to serve advertisements regarding goods and services that may be of interest to you when you access and use the Services and other websites or online services.

You may receive advertisements based on information relating to your access to and use of the Services and other websites or online services on any of your devices, as well as on information received from third parties. These companies place or recognize a unique cookie on your browser (including through the use of pixel tags). They also use these technologies, along with information they collect about your online use, to recognize you across the devices you use, such as a mobile phone and a laptop. If you would like more information about this practice, and to learn how to opt out of it in desktop and mobile browsers on the particular device on which you are accessing this Privacy Policy, please visit:

From Australia: http://www.youronlinechoices.com.au/

From Canada: https://youradchoices.ca/

From Europe: http://www.edaa.eu/

From the U.S.: http://optout.aboutads.info/#/ and http://optout.networkadvertising.org/#/

If you are in the U.S., you may download the AppChoices app at www.aboutads.info/appchoices to opt out in mobile apps.

USE OF SERVICES BY MINORS

The Services are not directed to individuals under the age of sixteen (16), and we do not knowingly collect Personal Information from individuals under sixteen (16).

JURISDICTION AND CROSS-BORDER TRANSFER

Your Personal Information may be stored and processed in any country where we have facilities or in which we engage service providers, and by using the Services you understand that your information will be transferred to countries outside of your country of residence, including the United States, which may have data protection rules that are different from those of your country. In certain circumstances, courts, law enforcement agencies, regulatory agencies or security authorities in those other countries may be entitled to access your Personal Information.

If you are located in the European Economic Area (“EEA”): Some of the non-EEA countries are recognized by the European Commission as providing an adequate level of data protection according to EEA standards (the full list of these countries is available here). For transfers from the EEA to countries not considered adequate by the European Commission, we have put in place adequate measures, such as standard contractual clauses adopted by the European Commission to protect your Personal Information. You may obtain a copy of these measures by following this link.

THIRD PARTY PAYMENT SERVICE

We will use a third-party payment service to process payments made through the Services. If you wish to make a payment through the Services, your Personal Information will be collected by such third party and not by us, and will be subject to the third party’s privacy policy, rather than this Privacy Policy. We have no control over, and are not responsible for, this third party’s collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Information.

UPDATES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

The “LAST UPDATED” legend at the top of this Privacy Policy indicates when this Privacy Policy was last revised. We retain the right to update this Privacy Policy at our discretion and at any time. Any changes will become effective when we post the revised Privacy Policy on the Services. Therefore, you may want to check back from time to time to read our updated privacy policy. Your use of the Services following these changes means that you accept the revised Privacy Policy.

CONTACTING US

College of Biomedical Equipment Technology, LLC, having business offices at 11550 IH 10 West, Suite 190, San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A., is the company responsible for collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Information under this Privacy Policy.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at webmaster@cbet.edu, at the postal address above, or by phone at our toll-free telephone number, 1-844.879.9043. Because email communications are not always secure, please do not send sensitive information in your emails to us.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR INDIVIDUALS IN THE EEA

If you are located in the EEA, you also may lodge a complaint with a data protection authority for your country or region or where an alleged infringement of applicable data protection law occurs.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR INDIVIDUALS IN CALIFORNIA

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), California residents have the right to not receive discriminatory treatment for the exercise of the privacy rights conferred by the CCPA. California residents also have the right to designate an authorized agent to make a request under the CCPA on the resident’s behalf.

Ombuds Services

Ombuds Services at College of Biomedical Equipment Technology serves as an objective resource for the college, advocating for fairness. Ombuds Services reviews decisions made by the college for fairness and ensures policies and processes have been followed. In addition, Ombuds Services is available for the mediation of student issues when all college processes have been exhausted. The goal is to aid in the timely and impartial resolution of problems in a non-adversarial, non-litigious manner.

Ombuds Services observes the confidentiality of any and all parties involved in complaints and other concerns brought to its representatives to the extent possible, insofar as it does not interfere with the institution’s legal obligation or ability to investigate issues, or to take corrective action when it is found that misconduct has occurred. Ombuds Services representatives will speak to relevant college faculty and staff on a need-to-know basis in order to address any such concerns and may also refer students to the department or college representative best suited to resolve the concern.

Results of any fairness review or mediation are final and not subject to appeal.

Students can contact Ombuds Services by calling the college directly at 844.879.9043.

Trademarks, Copyright, and Disclaimers

Website Link Policy and Disclaimer

College of Biomedical Equipment Technology is not responsible for the content of any third-party-linked site that is not owned by College of Biomedical Equipment Technology, or of any other links contained in such third-party sites. College of Biomedical Equipment Technology provides links to you for your convenience only, and the inclusion of any link to a site not owned by College of Biomedical Equipment Technology is not an endorsement by College of Biomedical Equipment Technology of the site or its contents. College of Biomedical Equipment Technology assumes no responsibility for any other party’s site hyperlinked to the College of Biomedical Equipment Technology website or in which any part of the College of Biomedical Equipment Technology website has been hyperlinked.

Trademarks and/or logos found on this site which are registered to third parties imply no affiliation with College of Biomedical Equipment Technology, nor do those entities sponsor or endorse College of Biomedical Equipment Technology products or services. No rights in or use of these trademarks and/or logos is granted to you hereby.

No permission is granted here for you to use College of Biomedical Equipment Technology’s icons, site address, or other means to hyperlink other Internet sites with any page in the College of Biomedical Equipment Technology website. You must obtain prior written permission to hyperlink in any manner to the College of Biomedical Equipment Technology website.

Trademarks

College of Biomedical Equipment Technology and Education for Good are registered trademarks of College of Biomedical Equipment Technology, LLC. Elements of this website are protected by trade dress and other laws, and this website and its contents may not be copied or imitated in any way without the express written consent of College of Biomedical Equipment Technology.

Warranty and Other Disclaimers

The materials and information you find on the College of Biomedical Equipment Technology website are provided “as is,” without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including without limitation any warranty for information, services, or products provided through or in connection with the College of Biomedical Equipment Technology website and any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, expectation of privacy, or non-infringement. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties, so the above exclusion may not apply to you. This disclaimer of liability applies to any damages or injury caused by any failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, computer virus, communication line failure, theft or destruction, or unauthorized access to, alteration of, or use of record, whether for breach of contract, tortious behavior, negligence, or under any other cause of action. You specifically acknowledge that College of Biomedical Equipment Technology is not liable for any defamatory, offensive, infringing or illegal materials or conduct, or that of third parties contained on the College of Biomedical Equipment Technology website, and College of Biomedical Equipment Technology reserves the right to remove such materials from the College of Biomedical Equipment Technology website without liability. College of Biomedical Equipment Technology reserves the right to update its policies at any time. Please visit this page often to obtain the updated version.

Copyright Statement

© 2010–2023 HTM Global dba/College of Biomedical Equipment Technology, LLC.. All rights reserved. The contents of the College of Biomedical Equipment Technology website pages, including, but not limited to, text, graphics, and icons, are copyrighted materials owned or controlled by College of Biomedical Equipment Technology and contain College of Biomedical Equipment Technology’s name, trademarks, service marks, and trade names. You may download one copy of these materials on any single computer and print a copy of the materials for your use in learning about, evaluating, or acquiring College of Biomedical Equipment Technology services or products. No other permission is granted to you to print, copy, reproduce, distribute, transmit, upload, download, store, display in public, alter, or modify these materials.

Copyrighted Materials and Peer-to-Peer File Sharing

College of Biomedical Equipment Technology respects intellectual property rights, including rights in the copyrighted materials of the institution, its students, faculty, and third parties. College of Biomedical Equipment Technology has implemented a comprehensive policy to help protect those rights and to comply with United States Copyright Law and the U.S. Higher Education Act’s peer-to-peer file sharing provisions. Strict compliance with College of Biomedical Equipment Technology’s policies is required of all College of Biomedical Equipment Technology students and employees. College of Biomedical Equipment Technology’s policies are reviewed annually to determine their effectiveness.

Copyright Law

Under U.S. Copyright Law (www.copyright.gov/title17), the author of a creative work automatically owns the copyright in that work upon its creation. No formal registration is required; ownership is immediate. The author can transfer ownership of a copyright to another so the copyright owner may not be the original author of the work. Creative works include songs, stories, poems, paintings, photographs, or other works that contain a creative element. Ownership of the copyright gives the owner exclusive rights in that work such as the right to display, reproduce, transmit, create derivative works from, publicly perform, distribute, and license the creative work. This means that, absent permission from the creator, you may not take the creative work owned by another and exercise these rights. Such a violation is called “infringement” of the owner’s copyright. For example, if you legally purchase a music CD, you may not create copies of the music on that CD and distribute those copies to others over the Internet. Helping others to violate the owner’s copyright by making it easy for them to distribute such materials may also be illegal.

Actions and Penalties for Copyright Infringement

Under U.S. Copyright Law, a copyright owner who has been the victim of copyright infringement is entitled to recover actual damages and profits from the infringer or statutory damages of up to $30,000 per violation. The copyright owner has the right to permanently enjoin the infringer from further infringing activities.

College of Biomedical Equipment Technology, recognizing and respecting intellectual property rights, requires its employees, instructors, students, and other community members to use copyrighted materials in a lawful manner. College of Biomedical Equipment Technology’s Code of Conduct, as found in the College of Biomedical Equipment Technology’s Student Handbook, presents College of Biomedical Equipment Technology’s copyright policy. Copyright infringement can result in applicants being rejected for admission and enrolled students and employees being dismissed.

Additionally, College of Biomedical Equipment Technology maintains a vigorous program of accepting and responding to Digital Millennium Copyright ACT (DMCA) notices, which are immediately escalated to College of Biomedical Equipment Technology’s legal team for investigation and action. If the materials in question are determined by the legal department to be infringing, the Information Technology department is notified and action is taken that can include either the removal of the infringing materials from College of Biomedical Equipment Technology’s network or the blocking of the infringer’s network access. The infringer is notified and reminded of College of Biomedical Equipment Technology’s Code of Conduct. Repeated violations can result in dismissal.

Legal Sources of Content

Students and employees are reminded that many legal sources of content are available at www.educause.edu/legalcontent