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Foundational Writing: Multimodal Resources Guide: Copyright

Copyright

What is Copyright?

According to U.S. Copyright Law, copyright protects works of "original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression." This includes broad categories of (1) literary works, (2) musical works (including any accompany words), (3) dramatic works (including any accompanying music), (4) pantomimes and choreographic works, (5) pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works, (6) motion pictures and other audiovisual works, (7) sound recordings, and (8) architectural works. 

Copyright gives the author the following exclusive rights to:

  • reproduce the work
  • prepare derivative works
  • distribute the work
  • publicly perform the work
  • publicly display the work

 

What is Copyright? by U.S. Copyright Office via YouTube

What Works are Protected?

Examples of copyrightable works include:

  • Literary works
  • Musical works, including any accompanying words
  • Dramatic works, including any accompanying music
  • Pantomimes and choreographic works
  • Pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works
  • Motion pictures and other audiovisual works
  • Sound recordings, which are works that result from the fixation of a series of musical, spoken, or other sounds
  • Architectural works

What Works are Not Protected?

Copyright does not protect:

  • Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, or discoveries
  • Works that are not fixed in a tangible form (such as a choreographic work that has not been notated or recorded or an improvisational speech that has not been written down)
  • Titles, names, short phrases, and slogans
  • Familiar symbols or designs
  • Mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or coloring
  • Mere listings of ingredients or contents

What is Fair Use?

Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances (Copyright Act Section 107). Fair use states that the reproduction or copy of materials for purposes such as "criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research" may be allowed under copyright law. In other words, you may be able to use parts of a copyrighted work if it falls under fair use guidelines.

To learn about fair use in relation to teaching, please visit the Classroom Copyright page.

 

Fair Use by U.S. Copyright Office via YouTube

Four Factors

Using the Four Factors is the major way to determine if a work falls under fair use or not. According to Section 107, determining fair use must be done by the user who intends to use a copyrighted work, done on a case-by-case basis, and consider the following four factors:

  1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
  2. The nature of the copyrighted work;
  3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
  4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work

In addition, "the fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors."

Source: Columbia University Libraries' Copyright Advisory Services department: Fair Use, licensed by a Creative Commons Attribution License with attribution to its author Dr. Kenneth D. Crews (formerly of Columbia University).  

Fair Use Checklist

Columbia University Libraries' Copyright Advisory Services department has developed a Fair Use Checklist to help users determine whether or not their usage of work falls under fair use. Note: This checklist is a tool that can be used as a roadmap to guide your decision-making; U.S. Copyright Law must be carefully considered when making a decision. 

Additional Resources

Copyright in the Classroom

Due to specific exceptions in U.S. Copyright Law to promote educational activities, students, faculty and staff may be allowed to clip, scan, quote, copy, show, and display copyrighted works for educational purposes. It is important to understand what these exceptions are, as well as the differences between in-person and online classes, in order to be compliant with the law.

Educational Uses by the U.S. Copyright Office via YouTube

General Guidelines

According to 17 U.S. Code § 110, there are several exceptions that allow for the use of copyrighted materials in a face-to-face classroom. 17 U.S. Code § 110:

  • Allows performance or display of protected material in a face-to-face teaching setting.
  • Stipulates that use of these materials must be in a classroom and at a non-profit educational institution.
  • Provides an exception to the exclusive rights of performance and display, but not the right of reproduction. 
  • States that performance and display in the classroom must be a legally-obtained copy

Public Domain

The term public domain encompasses works that are no longer under the protection of copyright. Works in the public domain may be used freely without the permission of the former copyright owner. There are four common ways materials enter the public domain:

  1. The copyright has expired. 
  2. The copyright owner failed to follow copyright renewal rules.
  3. The owner deliberately released the work into the public domain.
  4. Copyright law does not protect the type of work.
     

What Is Public Domain? by U.S. Copyright Office via YouTube

Public Domain Works

The following resources can help you explore materials in the public domain:

 

Creative Commons

Creative Commons licenses provide a standardized way to grant permission for others to use a creative work under copyright law. Many scholars and artists choose Creative Commons licensing as an easy and safe option to share their work with the world in a free and open way.

There are many advantages to utilizing a Creative Commons license:

  • CC licenses are free and easy to use for both the owner and user
  • CC licenses include easy-to-understand language for both the owner and user
  • CC licenses are legal, and work with copyright law, not against it
  • CC licenses provide copyright owners with several options in what rights they grant to others
  • Creative Commons provides an easy tool to help authors select the right license for their works

CC License Options

Please use the following infographic to learn about the Creative Commons and its different license options:

Infographic by Martin Missfeldt, licensed under a CC-BY-SA Creative Commons license. For a text version explaining the licenses, please visit the About Creative Commons Licenses page.

Why Use CC?

A Creative Commons license can help you safely and effectively manage the rights to your research while sharing your work freely and openly with the world. Along with the advantages of CC licenses mentioned above, there are additional, specific benefits as an instructor or researcher:

  • CC licenses encourage the use of your work and research, rather than hiding it behind a paywall or subscription.
  • You can allow others to either build upon, remix, or reinterpret your work and research while retaining credit and copyright for your contributions. This helps to foster a community of shared culture and scholarly research.
  • With CC licenses, you can create, share, and find learning tools, lesson plans, and more with other educators and researchers 
  • Embedding CC licenses into provides additional exposure for you as a creator and for your work, as it will be discoverable by CC searches. This can lead to more breakthroughs and citations.

Remember: Utilizing a Creative Commons license to your work doesn't take away your copyrights.

An Introduction to Citations

Citation: A (Very) Brief Introduction. This video provides a short introduction to how and when to use citations. Created by NCSU Libraries under a Creative Commons 3.0 BY-NC-SA US license via YouTube.

Why Cite?

Citations provide credit to the author, editor, and/or publisher who created a source. It is vital to properly cite your sources to avoid plagiarism, which means intentionally or inadvertently taking credit for someone else's work. Citing sources also allows others to retrieve the same information. The resources on this page can help to create accurate citations for your sources.

Citing Media (Art, Video, Music, Charts, etc.)

Purdue OWL LogoThe Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) offers an excellent guide to citing resources in MLA style. OWL will show you how to properly cite everything from journal articles and books to websites, films, and social media.

MLA Works Cited: Electronic Sources (Web Publications)

MLA Works Cited: Other Common Sources

MLA Tables, Figures, and Examples

Citation Machine

The free version of Citation Machine allows you create citations in a variety of citation styles. Citation Machine also offers guides on creating citations, as well as various writing guides. Always double check the citations created with a citation generator with a resource such as OWL.