LibGuides: Organizing Research & Citations: Copyright

Copyright Information

Individuals or groups own creative ideas or original work is known as intellectual property. For instance, slogans, images, music, books, videos, articles, inventions, and other resources are in many cases legally protected under copyright, trademark, or patent laws. Violation of intellectual property rights and laws can carry severe financial, legal, and academic consequences, including academic expulsion.

Laws, such as copyright, protect original creative work used to foster creativity and stimulate ingenuity by protecting the owner’s rights and investment in their work. For example, the creator of a hit song wants to protect their work so they can receive recognition and financial benefit. What would happen if laws did not exist to protect an original work? Anyone could claim ownership to it, and would thus preclude any desire for new original work that could potentially benefit society.

Copyright FAQs

Copyright Resources

Copyright Genie
Tool helps you find out if a work is covered by U.S. copyright, calculates its terms of protection, and collects and publishes the results (as a PDF) to save for your records.
Creative Commons
Search hundreds of millions of CC licensed works and choose a license for your own.
Digital Copyright Slider
Tool helps you determine the copyright status of a work that is first published in the United States.
Fair Use Evaluator
Helps you understand how to determine if the use of a protected work is a “fair use.” It also collects, organizes, and documents the information to support a fair use claim, and provides a time-stamped PDF document for your records.
Thinking Through Fair Use
University of Minnesota tool helps you structure your own reflections about the fair use factors, and provides a record that you did consider relevant issues.
U.S. Copyright Office Catalog Search
Search the Public Catalog to check if work is registered.

Copyright Alliance: Limitations to a Copyright Owner's Rights
The Copyright Alliance provides information about fair use and the limitations it places on ownership rights.
Copyright Alliance: The Truth about Fair Use
A blog post from the Copyright Alliance clarifying common misconceptions about Fair Use.
Copyright Clearance Center: What Is Fair Use?
In this quick video, copyright expert Fred Haber gives a quick overview of Fair Use exceptions.
Digital Media Law Project: Fair Use
The Digital Media Law Project provides a thorough explanation about fair use.
Fair Use Definition, U.S. Code TITLE 17 > CHAPTER 1 > Sec. 107
full text fair use law as provided by Cornell University Law School.
Fair Use Evaluator
Helps you understand how to determine if the use of a protected work is a “fair use.” It also collects, organizes, and documents the information to support a fair use claim, and provides a time-stamped PDF document for your records.
Fair Use Frequently Asked Questions
FAQs clearly summarize which resources are classified as fair use.
Fair Use in a Nutshell: A Practical Guide to Fair Use
Summarization provided by Attorney Lloyd J. Jassin.
Fair Use in Copyright Law
Provides comprehensive example of how to evaluate based on the four principles of fair use.
Fair Use in Education and Research
Page from Columbia University Libraries includes a variety of resources to help you determine if fair use applies to the ways in which you want to use copyrighted materials.
Fair Use of Copyrighted Materials
Overview from the University of Texas Libraries includes quick guides to fair use in context and the four-factor test.
Fair Use Summary Chart
Provides factors to consider and helps you to determine possible fair use versus “probably needs permission.”
Statement of the Fair Use of Images for Teaching, Research, and Study
Describes six uses of copyrighted still images that the Visual Resources Association believes fall within the U.S. doctrine of fair use.
Strategies for Fair Use
OWL at Purdue guide provides a few general strategies about how to use fair use policies and copyright laws.
Thinking Through Fair Use
University of Minnesota tool helps you structure your own reflections about the fair use factors, and provides a record that you did consider relevant issues.
YouTube: What is Fair Use?
Provides a concise overview of Fair Use, as well as select videos.

Campus Guide to Copyright Compliance
Designed for academic institutions, this guide helps answer questions ranging from basic copyright law to the more complex topics of ILL and e-reserves.
Collection of National Copyright Laws
Site endeavors to provide access to national copyright and related rights legislation of UNESCO Member States.
Columbia Copyright Advisory Office Quick Guide
Fundamental principles of copyright, meaning of copyright ownership, fair use and other rights of use of copyrighted material.
Copyright Clearance Center: Education
Hub for information and tools to education yourself and others about copyright issues around the world.
Copyright Law of the United States
Includes the complete version of the U.S. Copyright Law, December 2011.
CopyrightLaws.com
Portal for copyright and licensing information for creators, owners, distributors, and consumers of content.
Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States
Summary chart created by Peter Hirtle, Cornell University Library.
Innovative Copyright: Unique Resources for Copyright Education
Resources presented in this article include videos, interactive tools, comics, podcasts, tutorials, online courses, Twitter feeds, and blogs about copyright.
Intellectual Property Basics: Copyrights
Series of short videos designed to guide entrepreneurs through the important concepts of intellectual property during their startup.
Stanford University Copyright and Fair Use Center
Includes Copyright FAQs and a Copyright Overview, as well as articles, legislation, blogs, and additional copyright resources.
United States Copyright Office
Provides expert and impartial leadership and advice on copyright law and policy to Congress, federal agencies, the courts, and the general public.
A Simple Guide to Copyright for Librarians: 15 Essential Facts & Tips
An overview of copyright laws and how they apply to libraries.

3 Myths You Should Know About Copyright for Your Classroom
A quick guide on a topic relevant to all academic libraries, teachers and students.
Copyright & Privacy Guidelines for Recording Lectures
Duke University's Scholarly Communications Officer outlines the copyright and privacy issues to consider when recording lectures or classes for Internet distribution.
Exceptions for Instructors in Copyright Law
Tool helps you find out if your intended use meets the requirements set out in the law, and collects information detailing your educational use and provide you with a summary in PDF format.
How to Use Online Video in Your Classroom
Article describes how teachers can bring the best of YouTube and other online video services to their students.
Interactive Guide to Using Copyrighted Media in Your Courses
Interactive guide to help faculty determine the appropriate copyright guidelines they must follow to use different types of copyright protected media in their courses.
Know Your Copy Rights—What You Can Do
Association of Research Libraries brochure on fair use, the advantage of linking to instead of copying works, and special provisions for displaying or performing works in classes.
Model Permission Letters
Example letters for seeking or granting permission in various situations provided by the Columbia University Copyright Advisory Office.
Nonprofit/For Profit Educational Institution Statutory Comparison for the Use of Traditional Copyright Protected Works
Brief document discusses the varying factors affecting copyright in nonprofit and for profit institutions.
Reproduction of Copyrighted Works by Educators and Librarians
Basic information on some of the most important legislative provisions and other documents dealing with reproduction by librarians and educators.
NCU SME/Faculty Copyright FAQs
Statement of the Fair Use of Images for Teaching, Research, and Study
Describes six uses of copyrighted still images that the Visual Resources Association believes fall within the U.S. doctrine of fair use.
Using Content: Course Management Systems
Segment of the Campus Guide to Copyright Compliance which discusses the use of vendor-provided content, content uploaded by faculty members, and library-provided content in course management systems.
Website Permissions
Site from Stanford University Libraries explains copyright as it pertains to linking to websites and transferring information to or from a website.

15 Copyright Rules Every Student Should Know
Blog post highlighting 15 copyright rules that are the most important to students, and also the most often ones misunderstood.
Best Practices for Using Copyright Materials
Part of a larger Copyright for Students guide developed by the Duke University Medical Center Library & Archives.
Copyright and Your Dissertation or Theses
Ownership, Fair Use, and Your Rights and Responsibilities – ProQuest document provides considerations on how to avoid infringing on someone else's copyright, and how to protect your own copyright.
Copyright Basics for Graduate Students
Guide from the University of Oregon describes the importance understanding of the elements of copyright law prior to beginning your thesis or dissertation.
Copyright Essentials for Graduate Students
Brief guide provided by Texas A&M University Libraries.
Copyright on Campus Video
Jane the librarian educates her university colleagues about copyright law and its impact on the academic institution’s use of intellectual property.
Getting Permissions
From the University of Arkansas Libraries - provides a list of resources including publishers who have their own permission request forms.
Graduate Student's Guide to Copyright: Open Access, Fair Use, and Permissions
Guide created and distributed by the University of Michigan.
Model Permission Letters
Example letters for seeking or granting permission in various situations provided by the Columbia University Copyright Advisory Office.
NCU Student Copyright FAQs

Organizing Research & Citations

Library Webinar - Copyright 101

Library Workshop - Copyright in the Digital Age

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