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The creation and use of intellectual property is an important part of Columbus State University's academic mission. It is imperative that students, faculty and staff respect the legal guidelines for creating and using intellectual property in the United States.
The FAQ below provides information to assist in the legal and ethical use of intellectual property at Columbus State University.
Because every situation is unique, it is stressed that CSU students, faculty and staff become familiar with copyright information, issues, guidelines and resources as they will need to use their own best judgment in determining what falls within the boundaries of the legal use of intellectual property in particular contexts.
Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U. S. Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works.
Publication is no longer the key to obtaining federal copyright. When a work is "fixed in a tangible form of expression," it is protected underneath the U.S. Copyright Law. This also means that the use of a copyright notice is no longer required for protected works.
Copyright protects “original works of authorship” that are fixed in a tangible form of expression. The fixation need not be directly perceptible so long as it may be communicated with the aid of a machine or device. Copyrightable works include the following categories:
Several categories of material are generally not eligible for federal copyright protection. These include among others:
Section 106 of the U.S. Copyright Law defines the limited exclusive rights of the copyright holder as being the ability to:
Yes, in order to balance the rights of the copyright holder with the rights of humankind to use original works to enhance scholarship and creative activity in the United States, there are certain limitations to copyright. These are:
There are several categories that fall within the purview of Public Domain. These are:
What is in Public Domain is very complex, however. For example, works that are expired in the US may still be under copyright in other countries. It is stressed that without a comprehensive search of the publication history of a work and the history of copyright for the format (for example, scores, musical recordings and printed works may legally define Public Domain differently), it should not be assumed that a work is in the Public Domain. Cornell University provides a good resource that outlines the dates, inclusions and exceptions of the Public Domain in the United States.
The Fair Use Doctrine limits the exclusive rights defined in Section 106 of the U.S. Copyright Act and supports the use of copyrighted works in scholarship, teaching and learning.
Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act outlines four factors to be considered when deciding when Fair Use applies. These four factors are:
It is important to note that the Fair Use Doctrine applies to both print and digital content. Fair Use must therefore be considered when posting excerpts of copyrighted works in CougarView, CSU's course management system. For more information, please see the section about the TEACH Act.
One helpful way to determine whether a use of copyrighted works falls under Fair Use is to use the Fair Use Checklist , which was developed by the Copyright Advisory Office at Columbia University Libraries.
Another good source of information about Fair Use is the Four Factor Test provided by the University of Washington.
Section 110(1) of the U.S. Copyright Law states that:
Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, the following are not infringements of copyright:
(1) performance or display of a work by instructors or pupils in the course of face-to-face teaching activities of a nonprofit educational institution, in a classroom or similar place devoted to instruction, unless, in the case of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, the performance, or the display of individual images, is given by means of a copy that was not lawfully made under this title, and that the person responsible for the performance knew or had reason to believe was not lawfully made;
The TEACH Act permits instructors to perform or display copyrighted works for distance education purposes. It allows transmission of digital resources to distance learning students and approves electronic storage of copyrighted content for brief periods of time. The TEACH Act also allows instructors to create digital versions of print works.
All types of digitized, copyrighted materials are affected by the TEACH Act, regardless of what format in which they were originally published.
Instructors must inform students that the materials are copyrighted and cannot be redistributed, copied or revised. Instructors must also inform students not to save copyrighted materials on their computers.
Institutions must ensure that copyrighted materials can only be accessed by the instructor, enrolled students and administrators. Institutions must also require that students use login credentials to access copyrighted materials online.
A work that was created (fixed in tangible form for the first time) on or after January 1, 1978, is automatically protected from the moment of its creation and is ordinarily given a term enduring for the author's life plus an additional 70 years after the author's death. In the case of “a joint work prepared by two or more authors who did not work for hire,” the term lasts for 70 years after the last surviving author's death. For works made for hire, and for anonymous and pseudonymous works (unless the author's identity is revealed in Copyright Office records), the duration of copyright will be 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter.
Works that were created before 1979 have been automatically brought under the statute and are now given federal copyright protection. The duration of copyright in these works is generally computed in the same way as for works created on or after January 1, 1978: the life-plus-70 or 95/120-year terms apply to them as well.
It is illegal for anyone to violate any of the exclusive rights provided by the copyright law to the owner of copyright. These rights, however, are not unlimited in scope.
For works published before January 1, 1978, you may access copyright ownership information two ways.
For works published after January 1, 1978, you may search the copyright online catalog. This online catalog includes records of registered books, music, art, and periodicals, and other works. It also includes copyright ownership documents.
For more information, please see Circular 22 (PDF): How to Investigate the Copyright Status of a Work.
The usual method of obtaining permission to use a copyrighted work is to simply ask the creator. If you do not know who the creator of a work is, the U.S. Copyright Office provides a searchable database that contains the copyright records from 1978 to the present.
The Copyright Clearance Center also provides services for obtaining permission to use copyrighted works for a fee.
Columbus State University adheres to the USG Policy on the Use of Copyrighted Works in Education and Research. This policy provides faculty, employees, and students of the University System of Georgia with a basic understanding of copyright and fair use.
Fair Use Evaluator: A tool that goes through the four factors of Fair Use and helps users to determine whether Fair Use applies to their situation.
Copyright Law of the United States: U.S. Copyright Office homepage
Circular 1: Copyright Basics (PDF) (published by the U.S. Copyright Office)
Copyright Crash Course Online Tutorial (University of Texas System)
Copyright Clearance Center: Provides access to copyright permissions for millions of publications worldwide
Combating Illegal File Sharing: Contains institutional guidelines, articles, legal penalties, and other external copyright resources. A link to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is also provided
McGrail, E., & McGrail, J.P. (2010). Copying right and copying wrong with Web 2.0 tools in the teacher education and communications classrooms. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 10(3). Retrieved fromhttp://www.citejournal.org/vol10/iss3/languagearts/article1.cfm
The Public Domain:How to Find & Use Copyright-Free Writings, Music, Art & More by
Find free content and save on permission fees Millions of creative works--books, artwork, photos, songs, movies, and more--are available copyright-free in the public domain. Whether your tastes run to Beethoven or Irving Berlin, Edvard Munch or Claude Monet, you'll find inspiration in The Public Domain. The only book that helps you find and identify which creative works are protected by copyright and which are not, The Public Domain covers the rules for: writings music art photography architecture maps choreography movies video software databases collections For the first time in decades, new works began to enter the public domain in 2019, and more are entering each year. The 9th edition is completely updated to include new public domain resources and to cover the latest legal changes to copyright protection of songs, books, photos, and other creative works, as well as public domain rules outside the U.S.
Regulating Content on Social Media: Copyright, Terms of Service and Technological Features by
How are social media users influenced by platform when creating content, and does this influence determine whether or not they comply with copyright laws? These are pressing questions in today's internet age, and Regulating Content on Social Media answers them by analyzing social media use from a copyright perspective. Corinne Tan compares the regulation of copyright laws across selected social media platforms--Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, Twitter, and Wikipedia--with other regulatory factors such as the terms of service and the technological features of each platform. This comparison enables her to explore how each platform affects the role copyright laws play in securing compliance from their users.
Getting Permission: How to License & Clear Copyrighted Materials Online & Off by
If you're using copyrighted material, don't get sued--get permission! Online or off, before you use some or all of a song, photo, book, or any other work covered by copyright law, you need to get permission first. If you don't, you could end up facing legal action from the rights-holder. This easy-to-use book shows you how to get the rights you need, with step-by-step instructions and more than 30 forms. Find out when permission is required, who to ask, and when (and how much) you can expect to pay.