Copyright and Fair Use
What is copyright?
What material is protected by copyright?
How can I use copyrighted material for my classes,
research, or scholarly activities?
What can be copied under "Fair Use" for
researchers and educators?
Guidelines for distributing photocopied materials to students
Guidelines for using multimedia
Guidelines for using materials found on the Internet
What can I do to ensure I am complying with the fair use guidelines?
What is the TEACH Act?
Consensus Guidelines
United States Statutes
Copyright Links for Librarians
Intellectual Property
What is copyright?
Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the
United States (Title 17, U.S. Code) to authors. The owner of copyright
has the exclusive right to do and authorize the following:
- To reproduce the work;
- To prepare derivative works based upon the work;
- To distribute copies of the work to the public by sale or transfer
of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;
- To prohibit other persons from using the work without permission;
- To perform the work publicly.
To learn more about copyright the United
States Copyright Office provides links to U.S. legislation and
regulations, international law, and general information. Copyright
Information Circulars and Form Letters lists all the Copyright
Office information circulars and factsheets (available in both PDF
and HTML formats). The Crash
Course in Copyright developed by the University of Texas provides
basic information on copyright and fair use, and Copyright
Principles for Higher Education was developed by the Nebraska University
General Counsel's office.
What material is protected by copyright?
“If you can see it, read it, watch it, or hear it – with
or without the use of a computer, projector, or other machine, the work
is most likely eligible for copyright protection.”
Kenneth D. Crews. Copyright essentials for librarians and educators. Chicago,
American Library Association, 2000.
Works in the public domain are not protected by copyright and may
be freely used by everyone. Works in the public domain include: (1) the
term of copyright for the work has expired - When
U.S. Works Pass Into The Public Domain provides an easy to read chart
on when copyrighted materials enter the public domain; (2) the author
has made his works available for unrestricted copyright and distribution;
(3) the
work is produced by the U.S. Government.
How can I use copyrighted material for my classes, research, or scholarly
activities?
Under the “fair use” rule of copyright law, an author may
make limited use of another author’s work without asking permission.
However, “fair use” is open to interpretation. Fair use is
intended to support teaching, research, and scholarship, but educational
purpose alone does not make every use of a work fair. It is always important
to analyze how you are going use a particular work against the following
four factors of fair use.
- What is your purpose in using the material? Are you going to use the
material for monetary gain or for education or research purposes?
- What is the characteristic nature of work – is it fact or fiction;
has it been published or not?
- How much of the work are you going to use? Small amount or large? Is
it the significant or central part of the work?
- How will your use of the work effect the author’s or the publisher’s
ability to sell the material? If your purpose is for research or education,
your effect on the market value may be difficult to prove. However, if
your purpose is commercial gain, then you are not
following fair use.
What can be copied under "Fair Use" for researchers and educators?
- A single chapter from a book.
- An article from a journal or newspaper.
- A short story, essay, or poem from an individual work.
- A chart, graph, diagram, drawing, cartoon, or picture from a book,
journal, or newspaper.
- Copyright
and Fair Use Guidelines for Teachers is a chart to help instructors
with what can be copied under the law.
Guidelines for distributing photocopied materials to students
- Copies made do not substitute for the purchase of books or journals.
- Provide a copyright notice on the first page of the material copied.
The American Library Association recommends using "Notice: This material
is subject to the copyright law of the United States."
- Provide only one copy per student which becomes the property of the
student.
- Copying the works for subsequent semesters requires copyright permission.
- Do not charge the students beyond the cost of making the photocopy.
Guidelines for using multimedia
Multimedia works are created by combining copyrighted media elements such
as motion media, music, other sounds, graphics, and text. It is recommended
that you use only small portions of other people's works.
What is considered
a small portion?
- Motion media: Up to 10% or three minutes, whichever is less.
- Text: Up to 10% or 1,000 words, whichever is less. (The limits on
poetry are more restrictive.)
- Music: Up to 10% of an individual copyrighted musical composition,
or up to 10% of a copyrighted musical composition embodied on a sound recording.
However, no more than 30 seconds may be used without gaining permission from
the copyright owner or licensing collective.
- Illustrations and photos: Under the guidelines, "a photograph or
illustration may be used in its entirety, but no more than five images by
one artist or photographer may be incorporated into any one multimedia program.
From a published collective work, not more than 10% or 15 images, whichever
is less, may be used."
- Numerical Data Sets: Up to 10% or 2,5000 fields or cell entries,
whichever is less.
The following guidelines allow you to use multimedia without permission of lawfully
acquired copyrighted works.
- You may incorporate portions of copyrighted works when creating your own
multimedia projects for educational or instructional (not commercial) purposes.
- Students may incorporate "portions" of copyrighted materials for a project
in a specific course.
- Students may display their own projects, use them in their portfolio,
use the project for a job interview or as supporting materials in an application
for school.
- Faculty may use their projects for class assignments, curriculum materials,
remote instruction, for conferences, presentations, or workshops, or for
their professional portfolio.
- Give attribution to the original source of all copyrighted material used.
- Place a copyright notice on the opening screen of the multimedia program
and accompanying print material that "certain materials are included under
fair use exemption of the U.S. Copyright Law...and are restricted from further
use."
- Fair use of the copyrighted materials expires at the end of two years.
To use the project again you need to obtain permission.
Guidelines for using materials found on the Internet
- Always credit the source of your information
- Look on the webpage to see if there is information on how to use the work.
If guidelines exit - use them!
- If you are using material from the Internet on your webpage ask permission
or link to the site.
- If you gather and receive permission to use the material keep a copy of
your request for permission and their response.
- University of Nebraska Medical Center authorized users may link to full
text journal articles using the instructions for linking
to online articles to the most common databases and publishers.
What can I do to ensure I am complying with the fair use guidelines?
- Use the Checklist
for Fair Use produced by the Copyright Management Center of Indiana
University to evaluate fair use of a particular work.
- If you answer NO to more than two of the factors, especially factor
number 4, seek permission to use the work. Stanford
University Libraries provides several summaries on fair use cases.
- How do I obtain permission?
a. Contact Marie Reidelbach, McGoogan Library of Medicine 559-7087 or email mreidelb@unmc.edu for
assistance.
c. The Copyright Clearance
Center can
help you obtain permission to reproduce copyrighted content such as articles
and book chapters in your journals, photocopies, coursepacks, library reserves,
Websites, e-mail and more.
What is the TEACH ACT (Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization Act?
The TEACH Act was signed into law on November 2, 2002. The act updates
copyright law in the area of distance education and facilitates the use of
copyrighted materials without obtaining permission. The Teach
Act Toolkit from North Carolina State University provides an excellent
summary of the law and its impact on using copyrighted materials in distance
education.
Consensus Guidelines
These guidelines are not the law itself, but are interpretations of the U.S.
copyright law developed by groups of educational organizations and organizations
representing copyright stakeholders. They have been developed to assist educators
in complying with the fair use provisions of U.S. copyright law.
- Music Publisher's Association- Copying Under Copyright: A Practical Guide
http://www.mpa.org/copyright/copyrigh.html
- The United States Copyright Law: A Guide for Music Educators
http://www.menc.org/information/copyright/copyr.html
- Library
and Classroom Use of Copyrighted Videotapes and Computer Software. February,
1986.
http://www.ifla.org/documents/infopol/copyright/ala-1.txt
- Using
Software: A Guide to the Ethical and Legal Use of Software for Members
of the Academic Community. January, 1992.
http://www.ifla.org/documents/infopol/copyright/educom.txt
- Interlibrary
Loan.
http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/l-108g.htm
- Fair
Use Guidelines for Electronic Reserve Systems. March, 1996.
http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/IntellectualProperty/rsrvguid.htm
- Fair
Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia.
http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/INTELLECTUALPROPERTY/ccmcguid.htm
- Educational
Fair Use Guidelines for Distance Learning, Revised Draft. November, 1996.
http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/IntellectualProperty/distguid.htm
- Educational
Fair Use Guidelines for Digital Images, Revised Draft. December, 1996.
http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/imagguid.htm
- Final
Report of the Commissioner on the Conclusion of the Conference on Fair
Use. November, 1998.
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/olia/confu/confurep.pdf
- IFLA's Position
Paper on Copyright in the Electronic Environment. March, 2001.
http://www.ifla.org/V/ebpb/copy.htm
United States Statutes
Copyright Law of the
United States of America
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/
Provides the complete version of the U.S. Copyright Law in a PDF format or
you may click on individual chapters.
Pending copyright
legislation.
http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/
Digital
Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (H.R. 2281) -- enacted on 10/28/98
http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf
Analysis By
Jonathan Band, Morrision & Forrester LLP, Washington, DC.
http://www.arl.org/info/frn/copy/band.html
Copyright Links for Librarians
Medical
Library Association position statements on copyright.
http://www.mlanet.org/government/positions/copyrightstatements.html
Links to frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the copyright law.
Copyright
Law and the Health Sciences Librarian.
http://www.mlanet.org/publications/standards/index.html
Confused about the copyright law? This booklet makes copyright law understandable
to the practicing librarian or technical worker. Includes guidelines for AV
learning centers, collection maintenance, ILL, photocopy services, reserve
collections, computer software, and eight appendixes of sample documents and
background materials. Revised edition. MLA, 1989.
Copyright
in the Library
http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/l-diglib.htm
Copyright issues affecting the digital library.
Stanford University Libraries
http://fairuse.stanford.edu
Organized set of links to materials relating to copyright and fair use.
Intellectual Property
World Intellectual Property Organization
http://www.wipo.org/
International organization dedicated to promoting the use and protection of
personal works.
Association
of Research Libraries (ARL) on Copyright and Intellectual Property.
http://www.arl.org/info/frn/copy/copytoc.html
You may also link to Copyright
and Intellectual Property Policy Statements
http://www.arl.org/info/frn/copy/pol.html
UNMC Intellectual Property
Office
http://unmc.edu/ipo/Default.htm
IPO offers resources and services to faculty and industry to support their
pursuit of information and technologies involved in the licensing and commercialization
of UNMC's intellectual property.
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