Guidelines
Guidelines
Rights Granted to Copyright Holders
U.S. Copyright law grants a wide variety of exclusive rights to copyright holders. Section 106 (17 USC 106) states that:
“the owner of copyright … has the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following:
- to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords;
- to prepare derivative works (adaptations) based upon the copyrighted work;
- to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending (except as limited by the “First Sale” rights outlined in section 109);
- in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works, to perform the copyrighted work publicly;
- in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, to display the copyrighted work publicly; and
- in the case of sound recordings, to perform the copyrighted work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.”
- Copyright law grants the creator of original works the rights to choose how those works are and are not used and, if they so desire, to receive compensation for their work or to transfer ownership to others.
- In the U.S., as in many other countries, copyright no longer requires registration or notice. That is, as soon as a work is placed in a “tangible medium of expression,” copyright exists in the work. Copyright is in place even if the author neglects to affix a notice of copyright
Limitation of Exclusive Rights of Copyrighted Materials
Although the Copyright law protects original works and gives the authors the right to control the creation of not only copies but also derivative works, among other things the goal of the copyright law is to “promote the Progress of Science and Useful Arts, by securing for a limited time to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.” To achieve this end the copyright law
- provides faculty with rights to use portions of copyrighted works in the classroom, but those rights do not necessarily extend beyond the real or virtual classroom,
- gives libraries extra rights to make copies,
- defines the principle of fair use, which permits certain uses of copyrighted works without the permission of the copyright holder.
- Some, but not all, educational uses qualify as fair use.
- Four principles govern whether or not a use is fair use:
- The purpose and character of the use,
- the nature of the work,
- the amount used, and
- the effect on the market for the work.
Duration of Copyright Protection
As the phrase “for a limited time” suggests, copyright does not last forever, however, the duration of copyright protection varies making it difficult to determine the exact coverage for each work. The Library of Congress Copyright Office Circular 22 explains how to determine the copyright status of a work. Helpful summaries of this publication can be found at The Catholic University of America. See also University of North Carolina.
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Copyright Links
- Notice About the Policy
Approved by WC College legal counsel and the President of the College as the College's official policy on copyright.
Subject to continuous review, discussion by faculty, staff, and students and subsequent revision by the Taskforce.
Copyright: This policy is copyright 2010 by Washington College. Some rights are reserved. You are free to copy, distribute, and display the work and to make derivative works under the following conditions: Attribution—You must give Washington College credit as the original author; Noncommercial Use—You may not use this work for commercial purposes; Share alike—If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a license identical to this one. For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder. Your fair use rights are not limited by the above.
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Principles of the Policy/Policy Statement
The Copyright Policy affirms Washington College's commitment to comply with United States copyright law. Washington College community will:
- respect faithfully the property rights of authors and their assignees; and
- exercise vigorously our rights and responsibilities as teachers, scholars, authors, and creators in educating students, creating new works of pedagogy, scholarship, and art, and sharing those works with a wider community.
This Policy outlines the main principles of the copyright law, provides guidelines to assist members of the faculty, staff, and students to distinguish between compliant and non-compliant use of copyrighted materials, and recommends a variety of tools by which faculty, staff, and students can learn more about copyright law.
This policy also affirms that intellectual works eligible for copyright protection created by the faculty and students of the College in the course of their academic pursuits (including most courseware, syllabi, textbooks, scholarly monographs, trade publications, maps, charts, articles in popular magazines and newspapers, novels, nonfiction works, supporting materials, artistic works, and like works) are owned by their creator(s) and that any revenue derived from their work likewise belongs to the creator(s). However, unless otherwise agreed in writing between the creator(s) and the College, the College's use of this material shall be royalty-free.
In general, non-academic work created by faculty, staff, or students in fulfillment of their paid responsibilities, known as “work for hire” is owned by the College.
Faculty members and supervisors must abide by the rules governing photocopying and duplication of copyright protected materials and are accountable for any such copying delegated to support staff or students. At no time will an academic support assistant or a student employee reproducing or circulating copyright-protected material in accordance with a faculty member's or supervisor's written or verbal instructions be assumed liable for any failure to adhere to copyright law.
The College will make every effort to educate members of the campus community about copyright law and rights available under that law and will provide resources for helping the community understand copyright law. In all cases, Washington College expects all members of the College community to exercise informed judgment and to comply with copyright laws. Members of the Washington College Community who willfully disregard the copyright law shall be held accountable for their actions.
- Guidelines
- Fair Use
- Books & Periodicals
- Photocopying of Music
- Reproduction by Libraries
- Course Reserves
- Distance Education
- Public Performance
- Recording and Duplicating Audio
- Recording and Duplicating Video
- Recording and Duplicating Events
- Copying Images of Art
- DMCA
- Civil & Criminal Penalties
- Work for Hire
- Student Work
- Courseware & Software
- Ownership of Non-Academic Work
- Licensed Content and Software
- Obtaining Permission