The Copyright Permissions Center is a Division of Printing Services. Please visit the link above or one of the seven Printing Services locations throughout campus for all your photocopying or printing needs.
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Copyright Laws & Guidelines
Copyright is a form of protection provided
by the laws of the United States to authors of "original works of
authorship," including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and
other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published
and unpublished material. Copyright protection is automatic for any
new work of authorship that exhibits minimal creativity and is in
a fixed tangible form. Copyright registration and notices, though
both beneficial and recommended, are not required under current copyright
laws. To access actual U.S. copyright statutes, such as the TEACH
ACT or Digital
Millennium Copyright Act, follow these links or visit the U.S.
Copyright Office's website.
Works in the public domain are not
protected by copyright laws and can be used freely. To fall into the
public domain a work must have been published prior to 1923 (chronological
chart of when works pass into public domain) or been created by
an office or employee of the Federal Government. Public domain status
is not automatic for products of state governments.
Fair use (statute)
is essentially a limitation on the exclusive rights of the copyright
holder to reproduce a protected work. In other words, fair use allows
you to reproduce copyrighted material without obtaining the rightsholders
consent. To determine whether or not a use is indeed "fair", four
factors must be considered: the purpose and character of the use,
the nature of the work, the amount and substantiality of the work,
and the effect of the use on the market. Evaluating the four factors
can be very difficult, even the courts rarely agree, as they were
purposely written ambiguously to apply to a wide range of applications
and scenarios. Therefore, although this exemption can prove invaluable
for educational purposes, any adaptation or reproduction of copyrighted
works without consent is a risk and caution should be used when claiming
fair use. The chart below should help you determine if your use constitutes
fair use and alleviate certain scenarios, however, don't hesitate
to contact our office with questions.
| Type of Project |
Does
Fair Use Apply? |
Comment |
| Course Packets |
No |
Course packets are sold to students
making the use commercial. |
| Library Reserve |
Yes and No |
Instructors submitting materials are responsible for evaluating, on a case-by-case basis, whether the use of a copyrighted work requires permission or qualifies as fair use. |
| Open Websites (no password) |
No, in most cases |
Placing material on open websites
is equivalent to making an infinite number of copies. |
| Closed Websites (password) |
Yes and No |
Each item placed on a closed website
must be evaluated individually using the four factors listed above. |
| Course Handouts |
Yes and No |
Course handouts generally are allowed
under fair use, however, repetitive copying or excessive amounts
are not. |
Overheads,
Powerpoint Presentations |
Yes |
Material may be copied onto overhead/Powerpoint
slides for face-to-face classroom instruction under fair use. Always credit
source. |
| Conferences |
Yes and No |
Fair use may be an option depending
on purpose of conference, audience, number of copies, etc. Consult
the four factors listed above. |
| Instructor Copies |
Yes, in most cases |
Instructors may make one copy of
relevant articles and chapters for their own scholarly research.
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