Thoughts became "things" when the first stone-carver incised the image of his prey on the wall of a cave. But it was not until the invention of movable type which brought the ability to commodify thoughts that the notion of a person owning an idea could seem sane. As the evolution of human technology allows for increasingly wide dissemination of intellectual property (with increasingly high value), the need to weigh the thinker's rights with the community's needs to tap into these thoughts becomes critical. This presentation will offer a brief overview of the development of the "intellectual property" construct; a discussion of "fair use" as it applies to online and distance learning, and suggestions for applications within new models of education. Presenters will employ the case method to describe current academic issues relating to fair use, as well as several methods to foster the balancing of both sets of interests.