9/13/17

Overview

• In the U.S., content including books, journal articles, photos, audio and video are intellectual property and therefore can be protected by copyright restrictions.
• This document attempts to orient you about the "fair use" exemption designed for non-profit research, teaching, and scholarship
• It does not provide legal advice (please see disclaimer below)

Fair Use

• U.S. copyright law provides for "fair use" for non-profit research, teaching, and scholarship
  • Generally this means that you can reproduce portions of a work without securing copyright permission from the publisher and/or author
• Recent case law has held that fair use will be judged in light of purpose
  • For sufficiently new or transformative purposes, quite a lot of a copyrighted work can be used.
  • Old guidelines that emphasized counting words or calculated pre-determined percentages of a given work are no longer useful

Older "Public Domain" Materials

• Generally, books that are older than 20 years are in the "public domain" (and can be reproduced without copyright restrictions)

Copyright Request and Release Form

• Copyright Request
• Release Form (Oral Histories, Interviews, etc.)

Mandala

• Supports your work within Copyright Law and "Fair Use"
• Allow you to restrict each asset or collection as needed:
  
  • Public
  • Private
  • Group 
  • Class

Disclaimer

• This advice orients you and better prepare you for a consultation with your attorney and/or the University's General Counsel
• This document is not meant to substitute for legal advice.
• This document focuses on U.S. copyright law and practice.  
• International copyright varies widely from U.S. law and practice.
• Copyright law and it's interpretation are continually changing, particularly in the web environment.

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