Copyright is a federal law that grants creators of original works of authorship or artistic works some exclusive rights regarding their creations. Creators have the right to:
This means that only the copyright holder can exercise these rights. In order to do things like photocopy a journal article or book chapter (from either a print or electronic source) to distribute in class, scan an article or book chapter to place in Sakai, or create a course pack from material found in print sources or online, a permission or clearance from the copyright holder MAY be needed.
Bear in mind that these rights can, and often are, sold or transferred, either as a bundle or individually. The original author can be the rights holder, but, in many cases, it is the publisher that holds these rights.
| Permission is not needed when: | Permission may be needed when: |
Work can be linked to
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Posting the full text of non-licensed, copyrighted works in Sakai |
Work is published with a Creative Commons license
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Photocopying book chapters or articles for class distribution |
Work is in the Public Domain
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Incorporating copyrighted material (text, images, charts, diagrams into newly created works |
| Work is produced by the U.S. Federal Government | |
Use of the work is considered a fair use
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For help determining the copyright status of a work see this chart developed by Cornell University or Circular 15A, Duration of Copyright, from the U.S. Copyright Office.
