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Faculty Resources: Copyright

For HFC faculty.

Copyright is the area of law that deals with creation, ownership, sale, and use of creative and expressive works. Many people think of copyright as a distant thing that doesn't relate to their lives, but under US law, and in most other countries, a creative work automatically gets a copyright as soon as it is created, and that usually belongs to the creator. That means almost everyone owns copyrights, and almost everyone uses copyrights, daily.

A copyright owner gets to control who can

  • make copies of the work,
  • distribute copies of the work (by selling, renting, lending, or giving it away),
  • perform or display the work publicly, and
  • make derivative works, like translations, adaptations, and reinterpretations. (University of Minnesota Copyright Basics)

In general, Copyright Law prohibits reproducing and distributing copyrighted works.  A simple way to provide access to copyright-protected materials is to link to them, rather than reproduce the content.  This works well for materials available in the library databases, as well as those available for free (but not freely licensed) on legitimate websites.

When linking is not possible, the "Fair Use Doctrine" (Section 107) allows a limited amount of copying for purposes such as teaching and scholarship. In determining whether the use made of a work in a particular case is a Fair Use, the factors to be considered include:

  • The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for non-profit educational purposes;
  • The nature of the copyrighted work;
  • The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyright work as a whole; and
  • The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Teaching and Copyright

The TEACH Act portion of copyright law allows for teachers to provide copyrighted materials to students enrolled in their classes under certain circumstances without needing to get permission.

To use copyrighted materials in class, the instructor must ensure:

  • The material is integral to the curriculum of your course, not for entertainment or unrelated background material.
  • The amount of the material must be comparable in amount to that typically used in a face-to-face class session. For example, sharing a short story is reasonable while sharing an entire textbook is not.
  • The material can only be distributed to students currently enrolled in your class and through a password protected platform (such as HFC Online/Moodle).
  • Students are not permitted to retain a permanent copy of the material or further disseminate it.
  • Limit the length of time students need to have access to the copyrighted work, such as making it only available in Moodle for the length of the class period or the course unit.
  • Inform your students the materials may be subject to copyright protection.
  • There is no interfering with copy protection mechanisms. (TEACH Act, 17 USC § 110(2))

In other words, the TEACH Act does not permit instructors to scan, store, or upload complete works or significant portions of any type of work in the LMS for students to access throughout the semester, even if such access is associated with assigned coursework. Third party material made available online is to be treated as the functional equivalent of material ephemerally heard, used, or displayed in a live classroom. Online class repositories are not considered the functional equivalent for placing materials on reserve in the library. If you need your students to have continued access to copyrighted materials, please contact the Library about putting materials on reserve for your class.

 

"Can I Use It?"

Can I Use It?

 University of Minnesota Libraries “Decision Map” © 2011 CC-BY-NC 3.0

Copyright and Fair Use Resources

Meet Your Librarian

Hello! My name is Tessa, and I am a librarian here at HFC!

Librarian Tessa

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me. I am here to help!

What is Public Domain?

Works that are in the Public Domain are freely available for you to use outright or to transform into something new. While you do not have to give credit for Public Domain works (according to a 2003 Supreme Court ruling), you probably want to model how not to plagiarize for your students.

There are some types of works that are in the Public Domain:

  • Those that are out of Copyright (1928 or older).
  • Some works after 1928, but you would need to check the copyright office for each work.
  • Creators can dedicate their work to the Public Domain.
  • It is something that was not able to be copyrighted in the first place-- facts, non-tangible things, ideas, U.S. Government publications, etc.

 

And don't forget about Open Source materials such as those with Creative Commons Licenses!

Public Domain Resources

Where to find Public Domain creations?

Guide to Finding Public Domain Works Online

Public Domain Texts:

Public Domain Images:

Public Domain Audio & Video:

Public Domain Federal Government Resources: