Copyright

U.S. Copyright law serves both private and public interests. The private interest is the author’s right to reap the benefits of his or her creative endeavors. The public interest is the dissemination and use of works by the public. The private interest is served by the granting of a bundle of entitlements to copyright owners.The public interest is served through the exceptions and limitations to those entitlements as described in Sections 107 to 122 of the law (Title 17 of the United States Code).

Fair use is the U.S. legal doctrine that permits brief excerpts of copyrighted material, under certain circumstances, to be quoted verbatim for purposes such as criticism, news reporting, teaching, and research, without the need for permission from or payment to the copyright holder. Each application of Fair Use must be examined on a case-by-case basis.

Learn more about Fair Use:

• Codes of Best Practices in Fair Use
  • Codes developed on how to employ fair use for filmmakers, authors, teachers, journalists, visual artists, and more; from the Center for Media & Social Impact at American University.
  • Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Open Educational Resources
  • Statement on the Fair Use of Images for Teaching, Research, and Study
  • Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries
• Additional Codes of Best Practices in Fair Use
  • Guidelines for the Use of Copyrighted Materials and Works of Art by Art Museums (Association of Art Museum Directors)
  • Code of Best Practices in Fair Use in the Visual Arts (College Art Association of America)
• Fair Use Fundamentals
  • Concise visualization of Fair Use, from fairuseweek.org
• ALA Fair Use Evaluator
• UA Fair Use Checklist
• Fair Use FAQ
  • From the Authors Alliance
• Fair Use and Copyright in Instruction (interactive tutorial)
• Copyright & Fair Use
  • From Stanford University Libraries

Creative works that are no longer protected by copyright are said to be in the public domain. Once a work enters the public domain, users are free to copy, modify, translate, distribute, publicly perform, or publicly display the work without seeking permission.

What is in the public domain?

• Works published prior to 1929
• Some works published between 1929 and 1977 -- you will need to know whether the work was published with a copyright notice and whether copyright was renewed. (See Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States)

Public domain works can be used freely to support:

• Teaching and learning
• Creative inquiry and expression
• Research and scholarship

Works enter (fall) into the public domain because:

• Copyright has expired
• Copyright owner failed to follow copyright renewal rules
• Copyright owner deliberately places work in the public domain (“dedication”)
• Copyright law does not protect this type of work (e.g. work produced by the Federal government)

NOTE: Just because a work is out-of-print does not mean that is is out-of-copyright. Just because a work is publicly available does not mean that it is in the public domain.

Learn more about the Public Domain:

• Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States
  • Chart to help determine whether a work is in the public domain; created and maintained by Peter B. Hirtle
• Open Knowledge Foundation Working Group on the Public Domain
  • Includes a set of tools for determining which works are in the Public Domain in various countries
• Digital Copyright Slider