COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

The following is information on copyright for faculty and others to use when making decisions about copying or reprinting printed or audiovisual materials.  Please direct any questions you may have to Cathy Salyers, Library Director, cathys@saintjoe.edu.

1) MULTIPLE COPIES of copyrighted works for distribution to members of your class (one for each member of the
    class and yourself) must meet the following criteria.  If the criteria are not met, you must obtain copyright clearance.
 

The fair use section of the copyright code applies if the copying meets  these tests:                 - item produced must be brief (can't do a whole book),                 - spontaneity (you can’t plan this summer to produce copies of an article to distribute this coming                          semester  that requires copyright permission)                 - cumulative effects (again you can only use the same copyrighted  material once -more than once                          requires copyright permission)                 - one can not charge users beyond the cost of the actual copying

2)  TRADITIONAL PRINT RESERVES - photocopies
 

Again use of copyrighted material is covered by fair use in the code              - can have multiple copies of a photocopy item on reserve to meet  class demand for one semester only              - if the bookstore doesn't have your texts in on time, you can put  one or two photocopied chapters                       on reserve until the books arrives             - amount of material must be reasonable / key here is the material on  reserve must be a supplement to                       required readings - if your only readings are photocopies on reserve YOU VIOLATE FAIR USE                       since you have in effect produced a course packet for your students             - you can't put an article you obtained through interlibrary  loan on a class reserve or a copy material                     of  from a book obtained through interlibrary.             - copyrighted materials on reserve can  be used for only one semester,  if you use them again you must                get copyright permission.

3)  PRODUCING ELECTRONIC RESERVES

You must handle electronic generated copies the same as print since they have the same copyright protection and fair use rights as printed material, e.g. scanning an article and entering it into your computer files.
 

4) ELECTRONIC RESERVES
 

- One may make such reserves available over the campus network, permit one's students to print or download,  but one MUST restrict access    to only students enrolled in one's course - Do not post your reserves on the Internet where anyone can access them!   (Some publishers are hiring firms to surf the web to discover such postings and then taking action against  these copyright violators.     And yes, some faculty at small colleges have been contacted!) - You must include this statement "No further transmission or distribution of this material is permitted" to warn  your  students not to forward     this material to others not in the class, e.g. posting on the Internet

5) HOMEPAGES ON THE WEB
 

Even without a copyright statement, all homepages are protected by the copyright law.  You as creator/author have copyright protection. Indeed you might want to state on your home page whether you allow anyone to use any item on your homepage without obtaining permission from you or state which items can not be downloaded without your permission since your creation is protected by copyright. - if you make links to other sources which are copyrighted that is no problem - however if you yourself include on your homepage any material covered by copyright (text, photographs,  graphics,  logos, etc.) you must get   copyright permission and state on your homepage that the item you have included is posted by permission by the copyright holder.

6) INTERLIBRARY LOAN

- Libraries are required to keep records of periodical articles obtained through interlibrary loan over the past 60 months (5 years) and the current year. Under fair use, a library can make only make 5 requests from a periodical title going back five years .  Any requests over 5 means the library must pay for a copy using commercial firms that include copyright payment in their charge fee or the library must acquire that journal title for its collection,

- This "rule of five" can not be circumvented by one library in a consortium providing over five copies on demand to other member libraries. (Example) One library agrees to maintain a title for PALNI and rest of us in PALNI drop our subscriptions.  SJC can not make that sixth request without obtaining copyright clearance from the Copyright Clearance Center.  We joined this organization to protect the Library from copyright violations.  The library keeps careful records, and we reach the maximum for any given periodical title, we apply to the CCC for permission to copy.  The cost varies according to the periodical.

 7) OFF-AIR RECORDING
 

Fair use is possible for recording, retention and use of broadcast television programs - but only for non-profit education institutions such as colleges          - any TV program can be recorded          - the produced copy can  be kept for only 45 days          - can place on media reserve for first 10 days only and the remaining 35 days is for you as instructor to evaluate and determine if you want             to negotiate a license from copyright holder for permanent retention          - an instructor may not physically or electronically combine or merge such off-air recordings to create a video teaching anthology or             compilation, without permission from the copyright holder.

8) FACULTY PRODUCED MULTIMEDIA WORK

Yes, if you incorporate copyrighted works in your creation that will be reproduced, performed or displayed for others that requires permission from the copyright holders.

9.) COMMERCIAL VIDEOS IN THE CLASSROOM

It is not considered an infringement of the copyright laws when in the course of face-to-face teaching activities of a nonprofit educational institution, in a classroom or similar place devoted to instruction, there is a display of an audiovisual work (video, etc.) 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 an illegal copy and that the person responsible for the performance knew or had reason to believe was not lawfully made.

10.)  CONSEQUENCES

There are very few if any academics in the past ten years who have been found guilty of copyright violation in a court of law when those faculty or staff  knowing what can and can not be done under fair use, still innocently violated copyright.

You should be aware that more companies, especially journal publishers and media and software producers, are aggressively seeking out copyright violators [more and more via "hired guns" surfing the Internet] and taking them to court if the faculty member or librarian doesn't pay the alleged lost of royalties.

Damages under the copyright law are 1) actual damages determined by the court, 2) statutory damages which range per infringement from $200 if proven it was innocent infringement to $100,000 for willful and gross infringement, plus legal fees.

11.) OBTAINING COPYRIGHT CLEARANCE

Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) is a clearinghouse through which faculty and others SJC affiliated persons can obtain copyright permission for class handouts, course syllabi, and other types of materials distributed to students as well as for books or articles that a faculty member is writing.  The library subscribes to this service for the aforementioned purpose.   Requests to use this service are submitted to the library director and should include complete bibliographic information (page numbers, authors, titles, dates, etc.)  The charges for the CCC service vary according to author, publisher, and number of pages.  Some copyright clearance requests have only the request/search fee which is $1.00.  In addition to the request/search fee, the copyright permission fee for articles and chapters can be anywhere from a few cents to several dollars per page.

In a few instances, copyright permission cannot be obtained from CCC.  If this is the case, sometimes you can obtain copyright permission directly from the publisher.   Frequently, the direct approach is the least expensive with publishers granting copyright clearance at no charge.  With written confirmation either by email or snail mail, you can usually reproduce the article or chapter noting on each copy "reprinted with permission of ________".

If you are needing copyright permission for only one or two items, you might want to use the direct approach.  If you have several requests, you should consider using the CCC service.  If the charges seem excessive, we have the option to eliminate it from the list before concluding the transaction thus only incurring the $1.00 request/search charge.  You can then attempt to do a direct contact with the publisher.

Question about copyright permission should be directed to the Library Director.
 

11. OTHER INFORMATION ON COPYRIGHT, Copyright Act of 1976 and Digital Millennium Copyright Act (1999)
 
 

This page was prepared with information from a workshop given in 1996 by Laura Gasaway, Director and Professor of Law at Katherine R. Everett Law Library, University of North Carolina,  and a handout prepared by Larry Frye, Library Director, Wabash College.

Last updated 6-05-2002.