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Copyright Law for Faculty
When does copyright protection begin
and when does it become public domain?
Copyright begins the moment the item is tangible in a fixed format. An
example would be a computer file that has been saved. It is tangible and
subject to copyright protection if it meets the criteria of originality
and minimum creativity. There is no need to register or to post the ©,
the copyright symbol.
Public domain is now considered the author's life plus
70 years. However the date of publication is the key because the law has
changed through the years and different time periods are reflected for
different publication dates. Check Laura
Gasaway's web site at the University of North Carolina to determine
when an item meets public domain criteria and therefore not subject to
copyright laws.
What provisions have been made for
public use of copyrighted materials?
The premise of Fair
Use was created in the Copyright
Act in order to promote the increase of knowledge and thus maintain
one of the reasons for copyright law as spelled out in the U.
S. Constitution. Fair Use limits the copyright holder's exclusive
rights for educational purposes.
Typical fair uses include criticism, comment, news reporting,
teaching, scholarship and research. There are four criteria that must
be met in order to impart fair use:
- Purpose and character of the use
- Is the use for educational or non-profit purposes?
Educational purposes are considered fair use.
- Has the work been changed significantly from the
original?
The greater the change, the more the item will be considered fair use.
- Nature of the copyrighted work
- Published works tend to be considered fair use over unpublished works.
- Factual or artistic? Factual would be considered more fair use.
- Amount and substantiality of the portion used
- Fair use consideration decreases the more that the work is used.
- If the essence of the document is used it probably will not be considered fair use
- Economic impact on the market value of the work
- If the use negatively affects the market value of the copyrighted
work, the fair use defense will be negated.
If there is inaccurate information on this page, please send correction or comments to:
pcheek@chesapeake.edu
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