Overview of Copyright for Educational Uses
In collaboration with the Office of the Provost and University Counsel, Thrift Library serves to:
- review, revise, and publish university policies related to copyright:
- provide accurate information about copyright
- promote copyright compliance
- provide notice to students that course materials may be copyrighted
- receive and process claims of copyright infringement as Anderson University's DMCA Designated Agent
Questions about copyright issues should be directed to copyright@andersonuniversity.edu.
Disclaimer
This guide presents information about copyright law. The Anderson University Thrift Library makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of this information but does not offer it as counsel or legal advice. You may need to consult an attorney for advice concerning your specific situation.
Acknowledgement
This guide is adapted from the Wheaton College Library Copyright Guide (written by Lisa Richmond and significantly revised by Steve Oberg), which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Copyright Basics
The following pages provide an overview of copyright law as it applies to the higher education setting:
U.S. Copyright Law
What is Protected by Copyright?
Understanding Fair Use
Exceptions for Libraries & Archives
The TEACH Act
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
Copyright and Artificial Intelligence
Global reach of the law
Because of international treaties the U.S. has signed, works created or published in countries other than the United States are subject to U.S. copyright law when used in the United States.
Length of copyright
Generally speaking, copyright lasts for the life of the author or creator, plus seventy years. Once this time is passed, works are said to enter the “public domain.”
Copyright versus physical ownership
The copyright adhering to a work is not the same as ownership of a particular copy of that work. For example, if you own a musical recording, you may sell or give it away, but you may not copy it unless your copying can be justified by an exemption granted in the law.
Copyright versus plagiarism
Respecting copyright is not the same as giving proper attribution to the author or creator of a work you use. For example, it may be a violation of copyright to post on your website some material (text, image, etc.) that you copied from elsewhere on the internet, even if your posting clearly states the source of that material.
Copyright law versus contract law
Licensed works are governed by contract law. Contract law generally supersedes the provisions of copyright law and may give users more or fewer rights than the copyright law does.
When Copyright Permission is Needed
Follow these steps to determine whether you need to get copyright permission in order to reproduce, distribute, modify, display, or perform a particular work.
- Is the work subject to a license agreement? Check the item itself and any accompanying documentation.
- If the work is not subject to a license agreement, is it in the public domain? Works in the public domain have no copyright restrictions.
- If the work is not in the public domain, has permission for your intended use already been granted by the copyright owner?
- If the work is not in the public domain, is your intended use justified by Fair Use?
- If none of the above applies, is there a particular copyright exemption given in the law, applying to your intended use?
- If none of the above applies, you must obtain permission from the copyright holder.
The Fair Use Exemption
Many activities of university life may fall under the Fair Use exemption of the Copyright Act. This exemption states, in part:
“The fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies . . . for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include—
(a) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(b) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(c) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
(d) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.” §107, Copyright Act
Checklist for Fair Use
Each situation requires analysis of the four factors—Fair Use is a balancing test. It is generally understood that no one factor is automatically given more weight than another, and a use that is opposed by some factors may still be justified if the other factors favor it.
| Fair Use More Likely | Fair Use Less Likely |
|---|---|
|
|
|
|
Purpose:
|
|
Nature:
|
|
Amount:
|
|
Effect:
|
|
Modified from Carrie Russell, Complete Copyright: An Everyday Guide for Librarians (American Library Association, 2004). Used by permission.
An online tool called the Fair Use Evaluator provides an easy-to-use, online version of this checklist.
Obtaining Permissions
Follow these steps to obtain permission from a copyright holder to reproduce or reuse a work:
1. For public performance of an audio-visual work, contact Whitney Rice.
2. For all other purposes, identify the copyright holder. Many works provide this information in a copyright notice on the item itself.
- If you wish to post a journal article in the learning management system, for example, check the copyright page of the journal issue/volume, or the publisher’s website, to see if the publisher has already granted permission for educational uses such as this.
- If you are the author of a journal article, visit Open Policy Finder to determine whether the publisher automatically grants permission for your use.
- Search the records of the U.S. Copyright Office.
- Search Stanford University Library's database of copyright-renewal records.
- Documents marked with the following symbols automatically grant permission for certain uses. For more information, visit the Creative Commons website.
3. If the copyright holder can be identified, look for instructions on the holder’s website. If the copyright holder does not provide instructions or if the holder is an individual, send a written letter as shown below.
4. If the copyright holder or contact information cannot be identified, place your request through the Copyright Clearance Center or:
Music
Films
Plays
5. The copyright holder may decide to charge you for permission. You are free to negotiate the price. Permissions received through agencies will almost certainly come with a non-negotiable fee.
6. Keep records of all correspondence. If you receive verbal permission from the copyright holder, follow up with a written confirmation.
7. It is good form to publicly thank copyright holders for permissions received. This is often done in an acknowledgements section of the new work you create or publish.
8. Note that failure to receive permission (for example, when the copyright holder does not respond to your request) does not necessarily justify the use of a work.
Permission Letter Template
IMPORTANT:
- Be sure to specify this intended use to the copyright owner/rightsholder in your letter
- Request that they give you a timeframe of how long this permission is granted (e.g. in perpetuity, x number of years, specific dates).
[If sending via postal mail, include a self-addressed, stamped envelope.]
[date]
[copyright owner’s or agent’s name and address]
Dear [copyright owner or agent]:
I am writing to ask your permission to use [give full citation of the work] for the purpose of [describe the intended use in sufficient detail].
Please complete and return this form to me at your earliest convenience. Thank you very much for your consideration.
Sincerely yours,
[your name, position, and contact information]
I do _____ do not _____ grant permission for my work to be used for the purpose stated above.
Name __________________________________
Signature __________________________________
Date _________________________
Managing Your Own Copyright
Contracts with Publishers
When your book, article, image, or other work is accepted for publication, the publisher will give you a contract to sign. This contract usually transfers to the publisher all copyright of your work. The publisher is granted not only the exclusive right to publish your work, but also the exclusive right to enter into contracts or give permission for future uses of your work (such as its inclusion in a database such as JSTOR, its re-publication, or use by individual people) and to charge permission fees for such uses. Once you transfer your copyright to a publisher, even you, the author, must seek the publisher’s permission for uses beyond what is permitted by Fair Use and the other exemptions specified in the law.
Although it may prove difficult, you are entitled to negotiate the contract. For example, you may want to assign to a publisher the right to publish your article in a scholarly journal, but reserve the right to make your article available on the internet in a publicly accessible archive after a certain length of time has passed.
Some publishers permit professors and students to freely copy works or parts of work for many academic uses. Other publishers have restrictive policies and require high permission fees. Consider the model you want to support. Copyright is one consideration among many to bear in mind when deciding which publishers to consider for your own publications.
This is not to say that publishers who charge permission fees are acting unfairly. Each publisher has a legitimate interest in how the works it publishes are made available and used, and at what price. The copyright law is concerned with balancing the interests of copyright holders and users of copyrighted works, in order to “promote the progress of science and the useful arts." The better you understand copyright law, the better equipped you are to encourage publishers to maintain this balance.
Registering Your Copyright
To register your copyright, follow the instructions provided by the U.S. Copyright Office.
It is not necessary to register your copyright in order to assert it. It is recommended that you do so, however, for the following reasons:
- If you want to encourage people to seek your permission for uses beyond what the law grants them, you should make it possible for them to find out who you are and how you may be reached.
- If you do not register your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office, you may not be able to collect damages in the event of a lawsuit.
Granting Permissions
As a copyright holder, you may assign or license all or some of your rights to others. For example, you may decide to allow unlimited copying and distribution of your work with the proviso that the uses made of it be strictly non-commercial. Or, you may allow one theatre club to perform your play but not give permission to other clubs.
If you retain copyright to your work, consider marking it with a Creative Commons license in order to provide potential users with information about the types of uses you are willing to grant automatically. This will obviate the need for the user to get in touch with you to ask permission for those uses, and may help make your work more widely known and used.
Exclusive rights must be granted in writing, but nonexclusive rights (that is, rights you may give to more than one party) can be granted orally as well as in writing.
Joint Copyright
You may hold copyright jointly with other creators or authors of a work. In such cases, the parties are free to exercise their rights independently, including the right to grant non-exclusive rights to new parties, as long as profits are shared equally. One party cannot re-assign copyright or grant an exclusive right to new parties, however, without the consent of the others.
If you embark upon a work of joint authorship, you are advised to consider the copyright question carefully. You and your colleague(s) should put your copyright agreement in writing, before the project begins.
Addressing Copyright Infringement
Guidelines for Use of Copyrighted Materials
The following "Guidelines" have been published by groups of authors, artists, unions, publishers, and educational institutions. The National Association of College and University Attorneys advises the University that staying within these "Guidelines" should protect the University and its employees and be in abidance with federal copyright requirements.
Learning Management Systems (Canvas)
Off-Air Recording of Broadcast Programming for Educational Purposes