---

 

Some Copyright Basics

 

 

Purpose of Copyright

U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 8 (Scope of Legislative Power):

“To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.”

 

Current overall copyright law

The current fundamental law was enacted in 1976.  The key clauses that cover libraries are currently being revised by a committee.

 

Current length of Copyright

70 years plus the life of the author

Public domain applies to items that are no longer under copyright

 

Owner Rights

[Note:  The owner could be the author or the publisher or the person who paid the author to create the work.]

The right to make copies

The right to make “derivative” works

 

User Rights in the Print World

 

Fair use

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.

The Right of First Sale

            The right to sell the copy you purchased.

 

User Rights in the Digital World

 

Fair Use

1. Music, lyrics, and music videos:  Up to 10%, but in no event more than 30 seconds, of the music and lyrics
2. Photograph or illustration:  used in its entirety, but no more than 5 images by an artist or photographer
3. Off-air recordings:  10 days to show in class; 45 days for research
4. Movies:  home use vs. institutional use vs. public performance rights

 

Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Section 1201

            Prohibits “circumventing” any technological restrictions

 

Teach Act

            Provides some exceptions for true distance learning.

 

Key Points

1. Contract always takes precedence over copyright.
2. While there are extremes that are clear, there is a large “gray” area in the middle and the answer to many copyright questions is “It depends.”
3. There is a “good faith” clause in the 1976 copyright law to cover you if you have a rationale for the choices you have made.  That clause will be a factor if you end up in court, although there will still be penalties.

 

Open Access and Creative commons

 

An alternate way to approach publication and copyright. 

 

Open access (OA) is immediate, free, and unrestricted online access to digital scholarly material, primarily peer-reviewed articles in journals. An overview of this process can be found at http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/overview.htm.  Examples of open access journals can be found at the Directory of Open Access Journals, http://www.doaj.org.

 

Creative Commons provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry. You can use CC to change your copyright terms from "All Rights Reserved" to "Some Rights Reserved."  See http://www.creativecommons.org. 

 

More Information on Copyright

 

See the Cal State East Bay copyright pages at

http://www.library.csueastbay.edu/copyright/copyright_overview.htm

 

---

copyright Aline Soules 2007

under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/us/