03:16:01
USE
OF COPYRIGHTED MATERIALS
Introduction
It is the intent of the College that all
college members adhere to the provisions of the United States Copyright Law
(Title 17, United States Code, Sect. 101, et seq.), and this policy. The following statements and guidelines apply
to anyone at the College who wishes to reproduce, alter, or perform works that
are protected by copyright. Since
copyright protection applies to a variety of creative works printed materials,
sound recordings, video recordings, visual artworks, computer software, and
others this policy has been constructed to address issues related to the use of
particular types of media.
Full text of the law and its legislative
history, plus subsequent analysis and commentary, are available in the
Library. Librarians may be able to
advise and assist in researching problems not specifically addressed in this
policy.
Members of the College community who
willfully disregard the copyright policy do so at their own risk and assume all
liability.
I.
What is
Copyright?
A. Definition
Copyright is a form of legal protection
for authors of original works, including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic,
and other intellectual products.
Publication is not essential for copyright protection, nor is the
encircled "c" symbol. Section
106 of the Copyright Act (90 Stat 2541) provides the owner of copyright the
exclusive right to do and to authorize any of the following: 1) Reproduce
copies of the work. 2) Prepare derivative works based on the copyrighted work.
3) Distribute copies of the work by sale, rental, lease, or lending. 4)
Publicly perform the work (if it is a literary, musical, dramatic, or
choreographic work or a pantomime, motion picture or audiovisual work). 5)
Publicly display the work (if it is a literary, musical, dramatic,
choreographic, sculptural, graphic, or pictorial work including the individual
images of a film or a pantomime). The
copyright owners retain these rights even when the work itself belongs to
someone else. However, the rights are
not absolute. They are subject to both
"Fair Use" limitations, which apply to all media, and medium specific
limitations.
B. Fair Use
The doctrine of fair use, denoted in
section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, addresses the needs of scholars and
students by mitigating the rights of copyright ownership. However, what constitutes fair use is
expressed in the form of guidelines rather than explicit rules. To determine fair use, the following four
factors need to be considered [from The Copyright Primer for Librarians and
Educators, by Janis H. Bruwelheide;
1. The purpose and character of the use, including
whether the copied material will be for nonprofit, educational, or commercial
use. This factor at first seems
reassuring; but unfortunately for educators, several courts have held that
absence of financial gain is insufficient for a finding of fair use.
2. The nature of the copyrighted work, with special
consideration given to the distinction between a creative work and an
informational work. For example:
a. Photocopies made of a newspaper or newsmagazine column
are more likely to be considered a fair use than copies made of a musical score
or a short story.
b. Duplication of material originally developed for classroom
consumption is less likely to be fair use than is the duplication of materials
prepared for public consumption. For example:
A teacher who photocopies a workbook page
or a textbook chapter is depriving the copyright owner of profits more directly
than if copying one page from the daily paper.
3. The amount, substantiality, or portion used in
relation to the copyrighted work as a whole. This factor requires consideration
of:
a. the proportion of the larger work that is copied and
used, and
b. the significance of the copied portion.
4. The effect of the use on the potential market of the
copyrighted work. This factor is
regarded as the most critical one in determining fair use; and it serves as the
basic principle from which the other three factors are derived and to which
they are related:
If the reproduction of a copyrighted work
reduces the potential market and sales and, therefore, the potential profits of
the copyright owner, that use is unlikely to be found
a fair use.
C. Permission For Copying In Excess Of Fair Use
All employees, including faculty, must
obtain written permission from the copyright owner to copy a large portion of a
work or an entire work, or to produce multiple copies of chapters or periodical
articles in excess of fair use.
II.
Printed Materials - Works That May Be Used Freely
Occasionally, scholarly publications such
as journal articles include a note offering the right to copy for educational
purposes. Some categories of
publications are in the public
domain; that is, their use is not protected by copyright law:
A. Works published before 1923.
B. Works that do not include a copyright notice and were
first published before January 1, 1978.
C. Most
Once a work has acquired public domain
status it is no longer eligible for copyright protection. Before assuming that
a work is in the public domain, research its status.
III.
Photocopy
A. Printed Materials Other Than Music: What Quantity
Conforms to the Law?
The agreement on Guidelines for classroom
copying below, though widely considered to be too restrictive for academic
needs, does define the limits within which we can be sure of complying with
copyright law. Somewhat more extensive
copying may be sanctioned by the fair use guidelines.
Agreement on Guidelines for Classroom
Copying in Not-For-Profit Educational Institutions with Respect to Books and
Periodicals
The purpose of the following guidelines
is to state the minimum and not the maximum standards of educational fair use
under Section 107 of H.R. 2223. The
parties agree that the conditions determining the extent of permissible copying
for educational purposes may change in the future; and conversely that in the future
other types of copying not permitted under these guidelines may be permissible
under revised guidelines. Moreover, the
following statement of guidelines is not intended to limit the types of copying
permitted under the standards of fair use under judicial decision and which are
stated in Section 107 of the Copyright Revision Bill. There may be instances in which copying which
does not fall within the guidelines stated below may nonetheless be permitted
under the criteria of fair use.
1. Single Copies for Scholarly Needs
A single copy may be made of any of the
following by or for a teacher at his or her individual request for his or her
scholarly research or use in teaching or preparation to teach a class:
a. A chapter of a book.
b. An article from a newspaper or periodical.
c. A short story, short essay, or short poem, whether or
not from a collective work.
d. A chart, diagram, drawing, graph, cartoon, or picture
from a book, periodical or newspaper.
2. Multiple Copies for Classroom Use
Multiple copies (not to exceed in any
event more than one copy per pupil in a course) may be made by or for the
teacher giving the course for classroom use or discussion,
provided that:
a. The copying meets the tests of brevity and spontaneity
as defined below; and,
b. Meets the cumulative effect test as defined below;
and,
c. Each copy includes a notice of copyright.
3. Definitions:
a. Brevity
(1) Prose:
Either (a) a complete article, story or essay of less than 2,500 words, or (b)
an excerpt from any prose work of not more than 1,000 words or 10% of the work,
whichever is less, but in any event an excerpt of up to 500 words.
(2) Poetry: (a)
A complete poem if less than 250 words and if printed on not more than two
pages, or (b) an excerpt of not more than 250 words. (Each of the numerical
limits above may be expanded to permit the completion of an unfinished prose or
line of a poem).
(3) Illustration:
One chart, graph, diagram, drawing, cartoon or picture per book or periodical
issue.
(4) Special Works:
Certain works in poetry or prose or in "poetic prose", which may
combine language with illustrations and which fall short of 2,500 words, may
not be reproduced in their entirety. However, an excerpt comprising not more
than two of the published pages of such a work, and containing not more than
10% of the words found in the text, may be reproduced.
b. Spontaneity
(1) The copying is at the instance and inspiration of the
individual instructor.
(2) The inspiration and decision to use the work and the
moment of its use for maximum teaching effectiveness are so close in time that
it would be unreasonable to expect a timely reply to a request for permission.
c. Cumulative Effect
(1) The copying of the material is for only one course, at
(2) Not more than one short poem, article, story, essay or
two excerpts may be copied from the same author, nor
more than three from the same collective work or periodical volume during a
term.
(3) There shall not be more than nine instances of such
multiple copying for one course during a term.
(The limitations stated above shall not
apply to current news periodicals and newspapers and current news sections of
other periodicals)
(4) Prohibitions as to 1 and 2 Above
Not
withstanding any of the above, the following shall be prohibited:
a. Copying shall not be used to
create or to replace or substitute for anthologies, compilations or collective
works. Such replacement or substitution may occur whether copies of various
works or excerpts there from are accumulated or reproduced and used separately.
b. There shall be no copying of
or from works intended to be "consumable“ in
the course of study or of teaching. These include workbooks, exercises,
standardized tests and test booklets and answer sheets and like consumable
materials.
Copying
shall not:
(a) substitute for the purchase of books,
publishers' reprints or periodicals.
(b) be directed by higher
authority.
(c) be repeated with respect to
the same item by the same teacher from term to term.
c. No charge shall be made to
the student beyond the actual cost of the photocopying.
B. Course Packets
Copyright
litigation involving academic users has focused on those
"anthologies", which are perceived as substituting for textbooks and
thus as reducing the potential market for copyrighted publications. Every article or chapter in a course packet,
if derived from copyrighted material, requires permission, either from the
copyright owner (usually the publisher) or through a royalty fee paid to the Copyright
Clearance Center. Each item in the
packet also must include a notice of copyright e.g., "Copyright 1990 by
Academic Books, Inc." Individuals
who purchase course packets should not be charged in excess of production cost
and any royalty fees. Call Library
Services for information on seeking permission or help in finding publishers'
addresses. Expect several weeks delay in
cases where copyright owners are elusive.
C. Music for Educational
Purposes
The following
segment, which is an official part of the Copyright Act’s legislative
history, defines guidelines within which we can be sure of copying within
copyright law when copying music.
Somewhat more extensive copying may be sanctioned by the fair use
provisions of the law.
The purpose of
the following guidelines is to state the minimum and not the maximum standards
of educational fair use under 107 of H.R. 2223 is below:
The parties
agree that the conditions determining the extent of permissible copying for
educational purposes may change in the future; that certain types of copying
permitted under these guidelines may be permissible in the future, and
conversely that in the future other types of copying not permitted under these
guidelines may be permissible under revised guidelines.
Moreover, this
statement is not intended to limit the types of copying permitted under the
standards of fair use under judicial decision and which are stated in '107 of
the Copyright Revision Bill. There may
be instances in which copying which does not fall within the guidelines stated
below may nonetheless be permitted under the criteria of fair use.
1. Permissible Uses
a. Emergency copying to replace
purchased copies which for any reason are not available for an imminent
performance provided purchased replacement copies shall be substituted in due
course.
(1) For academic purposes other than
performance, single or multiple copies of excerpts of works may be made,
provided that the excerpts do not compromise a part of the whole which would
constitute a performable unit such as a section, movement or aria, but in no
case more than 10 percent of the whole work. The number of copies shall not
exceed one copy per pupil.
(2) For academic purposes other
than performance, a single copy of an entire performable unit (section,
movement, aria, etc.) that is, (1) confirmed by the copyright proprietor to be
out-of-print or (2) unavailable except in a larger work, may be made by or for
a teacher solely for the purpose of his or her scholarly research or in
preparation to teach a class.
b. Printed copies which have
been purchased may be edited or simplified provided that the fundamental character of the work
is not distorted or the lyrics, if any, altered or lyrics added if none exist.
c. A single copy of recordings
of performances by students may be made for evaluation or rehearsal purposes
and may be retained by the educational institution or individual teacher.
d. A single copy of a sound
recording (such as a tape, disc or cassette) of copyrighted music may be made
from sound recordings owned by an educational institution or an individual
teacher for the purpose of constructing aural exercises or examinations and may
be retained by the educational institution or individual teacher. (This
pertains only to the copyright of the music itself and not to any copyright
which may exist in the sound recording.)
2. Prohibitions
a. Copying to create or replace or
substitute for anthologies, compilations or collective works.
b. Copying of or from works intended to
be "consumable" in the course of study or of teaching such as
workbooks, exercises, standardized tests and answer sheets and like material.
c. Copying for the purpose of
performance, except as in A(1) above.
d. Copying for the purpose of
substituting for the purchase of music, except as in A(1)
and A(2) above.
e. Copying without inclusion of the
copyright notice which appears on the printed copy.
D. Packets of Photocopied Music
Excerpts
See section B above, "Course Packets."
E. Photocopies Obtained Through
Interlibrary Loan
Section 108(d)
of the Copyright Law of 1976 specifies that a library may copy "no more than
one article or other contribution to a copyrighted collection or periodical
issue, or . . . a small part of any other copyrighted work." The copy must become the property of the
requestor, and its use is limited to "private study, scholarship, or research."
Interlibrary
Loan activities are further restricted in the aggregate by the Commission on
New Technological Uses of Copyrighted Works (CONTU) Guidelines", which cap the amount of photocopying the Interlibrary Loan office
can request for the College community in any calendar year without paying
royalties. The thrust of the
"Guidelines" is to quantify the maximum number of photocopied
articles that can be requested from the most recent five years of a periodical
to which the library does not subscribe.
Individuals requesting copies in excess of the CONTU allowance may be
asked to pay a royalty or the fee necessary to obtain such copies commercially.
F. Notice - Warning Concerning
Copyright Restrictions
1. The Library is legally obligated
to display prominently the following notice and to include the same text on all
Interlibrary Loan request forms:
The copyright
law of the
Under certain
conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to
furnish a photocopy or other reproduction.
One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction
is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship,
or research." If a user makes a
request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess
of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright
infringement. The College reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its
judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.
2. Photocopy Machines
Every photocopy
machine on campus must include effective signage incorporating the following text:
Notice: The copyright
law of the
When so posted,
the law (Section 108(f) (1)) gives libraries and archives protection from
liability from contributory infringement when patrons use reproducing equipment
provided by the library or archive.
Though aimed primarily at photocopiers, the law is broad enough to
include other types of equipment including computers and audio-visual equipment
which is available for unsupervised use.
Notices should be displayed on all such equipment.
IV. Library Reserve
At the request of
a faculty or staff member, the library may place on reserve photocopied
excerpts from copyrighted works in its collection in accordance with guidelines
governing formal classroom distribution for face-to-face teaching discussed
above. The College believes that these
guidelines apply to the library reserve shelf to the extent that it functions
as an extension of the classroom or reflects an individual student's right to
photocopy for personal scholastic use under the doctrine of fair use. In general, librarians may keep photocopies
of copyrighted materials on reserve for the convenience of students both in
preparing class assignments and in pursuing informal educational activities
that higher education requires, such as advanced independent study and
research.
If the request
calls for only one copy of an item to be placed on reserve, the library may
place on reserve an entire article, or an entire chapter from a book, or an
entire poem. Requests for multiple
copies on reserve should meet the following guidelines:
1. The amount of material
should be reasonable in relation to the total amount of material assigned for
one term of a course taking into account the nature of the course, its subject
matter and level (17 U.S. C. 107(1) and (3)).
2. The number of copies should
be reasonable in light of the number of students enrolled, the difficulty and
timing of assignments, and the number of other courses that may assign the same
material (17 U.S.C. 107 (1) and (3)).
3. The material should contain
a notice of copyright (see 17 U.S.C. 401).
4. The effect of photocopying
the material should not be detrimental to the market for the work. (In general,
the library or the instructor should own a copy of the work.) (17 U.S.C. 107
(4)).
A. How many photocopies of an
item may be placed on reserve?
Library
Services routinely accepts single photocopies of copyright protected chapters,
articles, etc. The photocopies are
considered to be the instructor's property.
Although copyright law prohibits libraries from systematic copying to
enhance their collections, an instructor may provide duplicate photocopies
(five at most) when a course is large enough to require more than one copy of
an assigned photocopy. If an original is
not owned by the Library or the instructor, the instructor must provide written
permission or indication of royalty payment for photocopies in excess of one.
B. How many photocopied items
are permitted on reserve for a course?
1. Items from one source. The amount of material
should be reasonable in relation to the size of the source. Ordinarily, two chapters from a book or two articles
from a periodical would be considered reasonable. Greater proportions of copyright protected
sources will be accepted for reserve only with written permission from the
copyright owner or indication of royalty payment.
2. Items from multiple sources. There are several relevant
considerations, including the four factors which determine fair use; the
Guidelines for Classroom Copying In Not-For-Profit Educational Institutions
(see section III of this policy); and recent judicial history. A reasonable number will, in most instances,
be less than six, but factors such as the length or difficulty of the
assignment, the number of enrolled students, and the length of time allowed for
completion of the assignment may permit more in unusual circumstances. Still, the quantitative threshold for
exceeding fair use is problematic. However, current opinion on academic
applications of the copyright law is consistent in regard to course packets
derived from copyright protected materials as outside the bounds of fair use. Consequently, course packets will not be
accepted for library reserve without indication of the necessary permission or
royalty payment.
C. Notice and Citation
Copies on
Reserve must be marked with the following:
NOTICE: This
material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17 U.S. Code).
Copies on
reserve must also include a complete citation for the source.
D. Music Reserves
Special
restrictions apply to music reserves. (See
section III on photocopying music).
V.
Unpublished Works
Manuscripts,
letters and other unpublished materials are likely to be protected by copyright
regardless of age, even if they lack a notice of copyright. Consult a Librarian for assistance. Copies may usually be made for individual
researchers under the law's Fair Use provisions.
VI. Audiovisual Materials
A. Films and Video
1. Classroom Use
Possession of a
film or video does not confer the right to show the work. The copyright owner specifies, at the time of
purchase or rental, the circumstances in which a film or video may be "performed." Use of these media is permitted in an
educational institution so long as certain conditions are met.
Section 110 (1)
of the Copyright Act of 1976 specifies the following conditions:
Performance or
display of a work by instructors or pupils in the course of face-to-face
teaching activities of a non-profit 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...and that the person
responsible for the performance knew or had reason to believe was not lawfully
made.
Additional text
of the Copyright Act and portions of the House Report (941476) combine to provide
the following, more detailed list of conditions [from Virginia M. Helms,
supra]:
a. They must be shown as part
of the instructional program.
b. They must be shown by
students, instructors, or guest lecturers.
c. They must be shown either in
a classroom or other school location devoted to instruction such as a studio,
workshop, library, gymnasium, or auditorium if it is used for instruction.
d. They must be shown either in
a face-to-face setting or where students and teacher(s) are in the same building
or general area.
e. They must be shown only to
students and educators.
f.
They must be shown using a legitimate (that is, not illegally
reproduced) copy with the copyright notice included.
Further, the
relationship between the film or video and the course must be explicit. Films or videos, even in a
"face-to-face" classroom setting, may not be used for entertainment
or recreation, whatever the work's intellectual content.
2. Use Outside the Classroom
Besides use in
classrooms, videocassettes and videodiscs that are owned by the College may ordinarily
be viewed by students, faculty or staff at workstations or in small group rooms
such as those available in the
3. Copying Videotapes/Off-Air
Recording of Broadcasts, Including Satellite TV
Copying videotapes
without the copyright owner's permission is illegal. An exception is made for libraries to replace
a work that is lost or damaged if another copy cannot be obtained at a fair
price [Section 108 of the Copyright Act of 1976].
Licenses may be
obtained for copying and off-air recording.
Absent a formal agreement, "Guidelines for Off-the-Air Recording of
Broadcast Programming for Educational Purposes," an official part of the
Copyright Act's legislative history, applies to most off-air recording by
nonprofit educational institutions [from Virginia M. Helms, supra]:
a. Videotaped recordings may be
kept for no more than 45 calendar days after the recording date, at which time
the tapes must be erased.
b. Videotaped recordings may be
shown to students only within the first 10 school days of the 45-day retention
period.
c. Off-air recordings must be
made only at the request of an individual instructor for instructional
purposes, not by staff in anticipation of later requests.
d. The recordings are to be
shown to students no more than two times during the 10-day period, and the
second time only for necessary instructional reinforcement.
e. The taped recordings may be
viewed after the 10-day period only by instructors for evaluation purposes,
that is, to determine whether to include the broadcast program in the
curriculum in the future.
f.
If several instructors request videotaping of the same program,
duplicate copies are permitted to meet the need; all copies are subject to the
same restrictions as the original recording.
g. The off-air recordings may
not be physically or electronically altered or combined with others to form
anthologies, but they need not necessarily be used or shown in their entirety.
h. All copies of off-air
recordings must include the copyright notice on the broadcast program as
recorded.
i.
These guidelines apply only to nonprofit educational institutions,
which are further expected to establish appropriate control procedures to
maintain the integrity of these guidelines.
Certain public
broadcasting services (Public Broadcasting Service, Public Television Library,
Great Plains National Instructional Television Library, and Agency for
Instructional Television) impose similar restrictions but limit use to only the
seven-day period following local broadcast [Virginia M. Helms, supra].
4. Network Distribution of
Video
The College
negotiates for closed circuit distribution rights, if possible, when purchasing
access to satellite broadcasts or obtaining works on videotape. Without explicit permission for closed
circuit distribution, network transmission of a video is not permissible unless
"Classroom Use" guidelines are met. (See Number I above, Classroom
Use)
B. Sound Recordings
5. Non-Music Recordings
Cassettes or disks
may not be copied unless replacement recordings from a commercial source cannot
be obtained at a fair price. Recording
brief excerpts is considered fair use, however.
6. Music Recordings
A single copy
may be made for the purpose of constructing aural exercises or examinations. Otherwise,
the restrictions on copying non-music recordings apply.
C. Slides and Photographs
7. Reproduction
Whenever
possible, the college will either purchase slides and photographs from
authorized sources or will borrow from institutions which offer licensing for
single copy reproduction. In either case, further copying would be prohibited.
Occasionally,
slides of copyrighted images that are needed for classroom purposes cannot be obtained
readymade in a timely fashion. If the process
of slidemaking would fail to meet Fair Use
requirements, the requestor must demonstrate that the copyright owner has
granted permission.
8. Display
Copyright
ownership of slides and photographs encompasses control over display as well as
reproduction. However, Section 110 of
the Copyright Act of 1976 addresses the display of copyrighted slides and
photographs in educational settings by allowing "display of a work by
instructors or pupils in the course of facetoface
teaching activities of a nonprofit educational institution, in a classroom or
similar place devoted to instruction" so long as the copy of the artwork
was lawfully made. Furthermore, the
purpose of the display must be integral to the course.
VII. Educational Multimedia Fair
Use
This section of
the policy summarizes key elements of the Educational Multimedia Fair Use
Guidelines (1996). These guidelines
were developed due to the efforts of the Consortium of Colleges and
Universities Media Centers (CCUMC) which convened a group of interested parties
to develop guidelines to assist educators, scholars, and students in
determining fair use when including portions of copyrighted works in multimedia
programs. This group became a part of
the Conference on Fair Use (CONFU) which met for two (2) years attempting to
negotiate guidelines for educational uses of digital works. These guidelines do not represent a legal
document and are not legally binding.
They do represent an agreed upon interpretation of the fair use
provisions of the Copyright Act by the institutions and organizations which
endorsed them. While only the courts can
decide if a particular use of copyrighted materials falls within the fair use
provisions, the guidelines are an attempt to give educators and students some
quantitative guidance in using copyrighted works in their multimedia
projects. The Guidelines specify how
much of copyright protected sources may be included in multimedia products
prepared by students or faculty members for course-related work. Use of larger portions requires permission
from copyright owners. Educators may use
their Multimedia production containing copyrighted material for teaching
purposes for up to two years after the first instruction with a class. Use in the classroom beyond two years
requires obtaining permission for each copyrighted portion. If an educator wants to commercially
reproduce or distribute the work, copyright permission must be obtained for all
copyrighted material included. Creators
of multimedia products may prepare no more than three copies -- one copy for
use, one for library reserve, and one for preservation and replacement purposes
only. An exception is allowed for joint projects: each principal creator may
retain a copy.
A. Portion Limitations by Media
Type
1. Motion Media
Up
to 10% or 3 minutes of a single source, whichever is less.
2. Text
Up to 10% or
1000 words of a source, whichever is less. An entire poem of less than
250 words, but no more than 3 poems or excerpts by one poet. No more than 5 poems or excerpts from one
anthology.
3. Music, Lyrics, Music Video
Up
to 10% but not more than 30 seconds total from an individual work.
4. Illustrations, Photographs
No more than 5
images by one artist or photographer. No more than 10% or 15 images, whichever is
less, from any single published work.
5. Numerical Data Sets
Up
to 10% or 2500 fields or cell entries, whichever is less.
6. Internet Sources
Though it can be
difficult to determine what is copyright protected and what is in the public domain,
the multimedia creator is responsible for adhering to copyright law.
B. Notice - Opening Screen
The following
notice must be displayed on the opening screen and on any accompanying print
material:
"Certain
materials are included under the fair use exemption of U.S. Copyright Law and
have been prepared according to the educational multimedia fair use guidelines
and are restricted from further use."
Sources must be
credited and the copyright notice and ownership information display if shown in
the original source. Crediting the
source must adequately identify the source of the work, giving a full
bibliographic description where available (including author, title, publisher,
and place and date of publication). The
copyright notice includes the word "Copyright" or the copyright
symbol, the name of the copyright holder, and the year of first publication.
C. Integrity of Sources
Any alterations
of copyrighted items must be noted.
VIII. Computer Software and
Information Technology
Keep in mind that
any information or work accessible using information technology has the same
copyright protection as a work in a traditional print format. So the content of a commercial database, text
and images found on the Internet, web pages, and even e-mail messages are
potentially copyrighted works which should not be used without the permission
of the copyright holder or used only within the guideline of fair use or any
negotiated licensing agreement.
The College
negotiates site licenses with software vendors whenever possible for software
products that are selected for extensive use.
These arrangements provide the College community with efficient access
to computer programs that support the curriculum, while assuring the copyright
owner a fair royalty.
Software products
that are not licensed to the College may also be used. However, copying is strictly limited except
for backup purposes. Whether the
software is transferred from the original to a hard disk or to an archival
diskette, the backup copy is not to be used as long as the other copy is
functional. Employees of the College are
expected to use software in compliance with the licensing agreement.
Copyright law is
acknowledged to be inadequate in relation to the complexities of software use.
EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit organization that supports the use of technology in
education, launched the EDUCAUSE Software Initiative, which developed a
statement of principle intended for adaptation and use by individual colleges
and universities. Its text is reproduced in full below:
A. The EDUCAUSE/Code-Software
and Intellectual Rights
Respect for
intellectual labor and creativity is vital to academic discourse and
enterprise. This principle applies to
works of all authors and publishers in all media. It encompasses respect for the right to
acknowledgment, right to privacy, and right to determine the form, manner, and
terms of publication and distribution.
Because
electronic information is volatile and easily reproduced, respect for the work
and personal expression of others is especially critical in computer
environments. Violations of authorial
integrity, including plagiarism, invasion of privacy, unauthorized access, and
trade secret and copyright violations, may be grounds for sanctions against
members of the academic community.
IX.
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
The Digital
Millennium Copyright Act signed into law on October 28, 1998 includes
limitations for service provider liability relating to materials online. The new subsection of the copyright law
provides limitations on service provider liability with respect to information
residing, at the direction of a user, on a system or network that the service
provider controls or operates, if the service provider has designated an agent
for notification of claimed infringement by providing contact information to
the Copyright office and via through the service provider's publicly accessible
website (17 U.S. Code 512 c).
Contact Information: Peter Nerzak
Library Services
10915 Hardin Valley Road
P.O. Box 22990
Phone: 865-694-6517
FAX: 865-694-6625
E-Mail: pnerzak@pstcc.edu
Source:
Copyright Act of 1976
Digital
Millennium Copyright Act of 1998
Approved:
President Allen G. Edwards, February 1, 2000
Approved: President Allen G. Edwards,