Cornerstone University requires that its faculty, staff, and students respect the intellectual property rights of others, and be mindful of the rights conferred on them by the fair use exemption to the copyright laws.
All faculty, staff and students are responsible for complying the requirements of federal copyright law. From time to time, Cornerstone University will publish guidelines regarding the use of copyrighted material, and all faculty, staff and students are responsible for complying with such guidelines. This includes the responsibility to obtain required written permissions to use copyrighted materials. Making unauthorized copies of copyrighted material, including licensed software and music, is prohibited.
Disciplinary action may be taken against those who violate this policy. The illegal distribution of copyrighted materials may also subject a person to criminal and civil penalties.
Reports of possible infringement by members of the Cornerstone University community should be made to the Library Director.
The following is provided to provide answers to frequently asked questions regarding copyright law, and to demystify copyright law as much as possible.
Copyright is a form of legal protection that allows creators such as authors and photographers to control the reproduction and distribution of their work. In general, copyright holders have the exclusive right to do the following:
These rights have exceptions and limitations, some of which are described below.
Copyright protects works of authorship such as literature, music, painting, photography, dance, and other forms of creative expression. In order to be protected by copyright, a work must be:
There are things that are not protected by copyright, including:
Copyright is considered to occur automatically upon the creation of a new work. The moment the work is fixed in a tangible medium of expression, it is subject to copyright protection. Today, formal procedures such as copyright notice, registration, or publication are not required to obtain copyright. This means that just about all recent original works are subject to copyright. This includes not just published material, such as books and articles, but also emails and letters, assignments, drafts, and snapshots.
A copyright owner does not have to provide a copyright notice on his or her work to receive copyright protection (although using a notice is always a wise choice).
A copyright owner also does not have to register his or her work to receive and retain copyright protection, though registration does confer a number of legal benefits. A work may be registered at any time while it is still protected by copyright, and registering is not difficult. For instructions and forms, visit copyright.gov.
Today, copyright lasts from the moment a work is created until 70 years after the death of the author, except for works produced by a company/employer, in which case the copyright lasts 95 years from the date of publication. For many works, however, calculating duration of copyright can be complex. Publications regarding these calculations are available through the link above.
After the term of the copyright has ended, the work will lose its copyright protection and fall into the public domain, where it may be used freely without permission. Works created by officers and employees of the United States government are not covered by copyright protection and are within the public domain. This includes government reports and data and informational publications of government agencies. A work is not considered to be in the public domain simply because it does not contain an affirmative statement of copyright ownership or copyright notice.
The creator is usually the initial copyright holder. If two or more people jointly create a work, they are joint holders of the copyright, with equal rights. Absent an agreement to the contrary, each joint author can grant third parties permission to use the work on a non-exclusive basis without the consent of the other joint authors.
If a work is created as a part of a person’s employment, that work is a “work made for hire” and the copyright belongs to the employer, unless the employer explicitly grants rights to the employee in a signed agreement. In the case of work by independent contractors or freelancers, the copyright belongs to the contractor or freelancer unless otherwise negotiated beforehand, and agreed to in writing.
It is possible to transfer or assign all or part of a copyright; this frequently happens as a part of publishing agreements. In many cases, the publisher holds the copyright to a work, and not the author. A valid copyright transfer requires a signed written agreement.
Because copyright protection happens so easily and lasts so long, you should assume that any work you want to use is copyrighted, unless it is very old or produced by the U.S. government.
Copyright has expired for works published in the United States before 1923, which means they are in the public domain. You are free to use or reproduce works in the public domain however you want. In addition, some works published between 1923 and 1963 may also be in the public domain, but this can only be determined on a case-by-case basis. With few exceptions, all works created after 1963 are under copyright, except for works produced by the U.S. government and state constitutions and laws. If you are trying to determine whether a work published during that time period is still under copyright, the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database is a good place to start.
Fair use allows limited use of copyrighted material without permission from the copyright holder for purposes such as criticism, parody, news reporting, research and scholarship, and teaching. Just because your use is for non-profit educational purposes does not automatically give you permission to copy and distribute other people’s work. While many educational uses may be fair, you should evaluate your use each time you are reproducing copyrighted material to show in your class, to hand out copies, to include in your writing, etc.
There are four factors to consider when determining whether your use is a fair one. You must consider all the factors below, even though all the factors do not have to be in favor of a use to make it a fair one.
The four fair use factors are as follows:
The rules governing use of materials in a face to face classroom are broader than fair use and give you more leeway as far as what you are allowed to copy, display, and distribute in your classes. You may display or perform a work in a class without obtaining permission or doing a fair use evaluation when your use meets all three of these criteria:
The use is:
Uses you are allowed to make include:
One goal of fair use is to allow the inclusion of quotations and excerpts in scholarly works without seeking permission. Some people believe that there are hard and fast numbers to determine how much of a work you may legally use, but that is not the case. Every use is different, and must be considered individually.
If you are writing a book or article for publication, your publisher may want you to get permission for the use of all copyrighted material, even uses that you may think are fair. Because every publisher has its own policy on what it considers to be legally safe, it would be impractical for you to try to clear rights before you receive an offer for publication. However, you should be aware that you may be responsible for clearing permissions for publication and that there may be a cost associated with acquiring those rights.
The Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act (TEACH Act) says that teachers and students at accredited educational institutions can use works for distance learning without permission under certain circumstances.
If you:
and you plan to use copyrighted works through:
then your use aligns with the Teach Act. For more help, see North Carolina State University’s TEACH Act Toolkit, which gives more in-depth information about copyright and distance education.
Just because something is freely available on a website does not mean it is in the public domain. Works residing on a site that makes no mention of copyright should be presumed to be copyrighted.
You may encounter works online for which the author or creator specifically grants rights to use them, such as those released under a Creative Commons license. A Creative Commons license allows you to make certain uses of a work without asking for permission, provided you follow the terms set by the creator.
Unless you created the work as part of your job as an employee or under contract as a work for hire, you are the author and the initial copyright holder. However, if you have transferred your copyright to someone else, such as a journal publisher, you are no longer the copyright holder and may not have any privileges to use the work. If you are not sure, you should consult your agreement to see if you have retained any rights.
If you have not retained rights to use your work, then you must treat it like any other copyrighted work: decide whether the use you want to make is a fair use and, if it isn’t, ask for permission.
Students hold the copyright to the academic works they create, such as their papers, projects, theses, and dissertations. There are also privacy concerns related to the use of student work (for example, under the Family Educational Rights to Privacy Act). If you wish to use student work, ask for permission.
There are differences in copyright law across countries. The Berne Convention, signed by 163 countries, requires that countries recognize the works of foreign authors the same way they do those of their own nationals. For example, all works performed or published in the US, are subject to the terms of US copyright law, no matter where they were created originally. Most countries have standardized their copyright terms, so foreign copyrights tend to last as long as U.S. copyrights: the life of the author plus 70 years.
When determining whether or not you can make a particular use of a foreign work, you will need to consider the specific circumstances of your case, such as the country where the work originated, whether or not the work is in print, and how you plan to use the work.
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization that created a set of simple, easy-to-understand copyright licenses. These licenses allow creators to mark a work with permission to make a variety of uses, with the aim of expanding the range of things available for others to quote, adapt, and build upon.
Creative Commons licenses do two things: They allow creators to share their work easily, and they allow everyone to find work that is free to use without permission. As long as you obey the terms of the license attached to the work, you can use Creative Commons licensed material without fear of accidentally infringing someone’s copyright.
For more information, visit creativecommons.org.
If you want to use someone else’s copyrighted material, your next step is to ask for permission.
1. Identify the copyright holder.
To begin with, you need to identify the copyright holder. For many works, the publisher is the copyright holder. Look for a copyright notice such as “© 2003 C. Holder” or “Copyright by C. Holder, 2003.” Unfortunately, not all works will include a copyright notice, and it is also possible that the copyright has changed hands since the notice was printed.
For older works, especially for materials like photographs and audio recordings, it may be impossible to identify and locate the copyright holder, resulting in “orphan works.” Always keep documentation of your search for a copyright holder. There is still some risk associated with using orphan works, and in the event that you cannot find the copyright holder but decide to use the material anyway, documentation of your search could prove useful.
There are a number of organizations that can help you identify and contact copyright holders. The Copyright Clearance Center, Copyright.com, handles a large quantity of academic permissions requests, and may be a good place to start your search.
2. Identify the rights you need.
Because so many rights are associated with copyrighted works, you must specify the rights you need. This can be as simple as stating your intended use (e.g., you want to display a graphic in a PowerPoint presentation), the length of time that you need to use the work, the geographic area in which you want to use the work, etc.
3. Negotiate whether payment is required.
Although many uses of works may be free, you should usually expect to pay something for copyright permission. Generally, these fees are proportional to the size of the audience your work will reach.
4. Ask for permission.
Once you have identified the copyright holder, the next step is to ask for permission. An increasing number of publishers prefer that you make your request using a form on their websites. Others may require that you make your request via email or postal mail. Whenever possible, use the method preferred by the copyright holder.
5. Get permission in writing.
Written permission specifying the work, the permitted use, the copyright holder and the person/party to whom permission has been granted should be obtained prior to use of the work and maintained by the requester.