Slides associated with the Emory University Libraries' "Copyright & Your Thesis or Dissertation" workshops. Spring 2015

1. Copyright and Your
Thesis or Dissertation
Melanie T. Kowalski
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

2. By the end of this session you should…
• Be able to answer the © pre-screening
questions when you submit your thesis or
dissertation
• Understand what copyright permissions are,
when you might need to seek permission, and
how to do so
• Know what steps you should take when
publishing content from your thesis or
dissertation in the future
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3. Copyright Law - A quick overview
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4. What is copyright?
“The Congress shall have Power To….promote the
Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing
for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the
exclusive Right to their respective Writings and
Discoveries”
US Constitution, Article 1, Section 8
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5. What are the “rights” in Copyright?
 The rights of the copyright owner are:
 To reproduce the work
 To prepare derivative works
 To distribute copies of the work
 To publicly perform the work
 To publicly display the work directly or by
telecommunication
 To publicly perform a sound recording by digital
means
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6. Duration of the Copyright protection
• Copyright law grants exclusive rights to
copyright owners
– Term of copyright is currently life of the author + 70
years
– Copyright notice ( © ) is not required
– When copyright expires, work enters the public
domain
• To maintain balance, © Law has several
exemptions (Ex. Fair Use)
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7. Copyright Law & Emory Policy
• Emory’s Intellectual Property Policy does not
claim ownership of intellectual property created
by students in the course of their education, with
a few exceptions.
– You own copyright in your thesis or dissertation
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8. ETD Submission Pre-Screening - #1
If your thesis or dissertation includes any text, audiovisual,
or other material not created by you or for which you no
longer own copyright, and which is not a fair use, you may
need to seek permission from the copyright owner. NOTE:
All third party copyrighted content should be properly cited,
regardless of copyright status.
Does your thesis or dissertation include text,
audiovisual, or other material for which you
need permission?
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9. Original works of authorship fixed in a
tangible medium of expression
What does Copyright Protect?

10. What isn’t Protected by Copyright?
• Works not protected by copyright include:
– Titles, names, short phrases, slogans
– Facts, news and discoveries
– Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes
(however, these may be patentable)
– Works lacking a modicum of originality (e.g. a phone
book in alphabetical order)
– Works created by the U.S. government
– Useful articles (such as clothing)
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11. Copyright Exemption - Fair Use
 Balancing test, comprised of four factors:
 Purpose and Character
 Nature of the copyright work
 Amount of the use
 Effect on the market or potential market for the
copyrighted work
 (see Blackboard site for more information on Fair Use)
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12. With ETDS, you typically need permission to
include. . .
• Long quotations
• Reproduced publications
• Unpublished materials
• Poetry and Music Lyrics
• Dialogue from a play, screenplay, broadcast, or novel
• Music
• Graphic or pictorial works (graphs, charts and images)
• Computer Software
• Sources located on the Internet
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13. When Permission Isn’t Needed
• Work is in the public domain
– Government document
– Published in US prior to 1923
– Published in a foreign country prior to 1909
• Creative Commons licenses
– Authors grant permission for certain uses by using a
CC logo (see www.creativecommons.org)
• When you are the author and have retained the
rights to re-publish
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14. Isn’t Citing Enough?
• Scholarly uses of copyrighted works are not
exempt from copyright law
– Accurate citations help you avoid plagiarism
• Intellectual honesty
• Giving credit for another’s ideas
– Copyright law
• Concerned with the expression of ideas
• Accurate citations are not a defense to copyright infringement
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15. How to Obtain Permission
• Identify the copyright owner (see Blackboard
site)
• Contact the copyright owner and include:
– Exact material to be used
– Intended use of the material (in your thesis or
dissertation)
– Form of publication (through ProQuest and Emory’s
ETD repository)
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16. How to Obtain Permission
• Retain a written response (if contacted by
telephone, follow up in writing by e-mail or letter)
• If you don’t get a response or permission is
denied:
– Consider using an alternative work
– Alter your planned use and re-evaluate for fair use
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17. Permissions Help?
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Bielstein, Susan M. Permissions, a Survival Guide: Blunt Talk about Art as
Intellectual Property. Chicago: U of Chicago, 2006. Available for Emory Community
Users at http://site.ebrary.com/lib/emoryac/detail.action?docID=10397740 (login required)

18. What about previous publications?
– If you want to include an article or book
chapter you authored or co-authored, you
need to determine if you are still the copyright
owner.
• Some publishers ask for ALL rights to be assigned
to them, which means you no longer have the right
to copy or to distribute
• Look at the Author Agreement, if you have a copy
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19. What about previous publications?
 What if I don’t have the Author Agreement, or it
says I signed away all copyright rights?
 Contact the publisher and ask if you can:
 Include the article or chapter as published in your thesis or
dissertation (publishers may be more likely to grant your
request if publication was more than 1 year from the
request); or
 Include the pre-print (prior to publisher editing) in your
thesis or dissertation
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20. What about previous publications?
• What if the answer is ‘no’?
– Use the same research but draft a new version,
possibly including additional material, for your thesis
or dissertation
– If the article or chapter is available electronically, put
in the URL for the link instead of the text
• Likely, only people with access to a subscription to the title
will be able to access the content
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21. Have you read your
author’s agreement lately?
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22. Authors Agreement Exercise
• Read the author’s agreement & answer:
1. Who owns the copyright to the article?
2. What rights do you have?
3. What rights does the publisher have?
4. Can you post the article on your website?
5. Can you put it in an institutional repository?
6. Can you hand out copies of the article at a
conference presentation?
7. Can you publish the article as part of your
thesis/dissertation?
8. Can you hand out copies in class?
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23. ETD Submission Pre-Screening - #2
Does your thesis or dissertation disclose or
describe any inventions or discoveries that
could potentially have commercial
application and therefore may be patented?
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24. ETD Submission Pre-Screening - #3
Are you requesting an access restriction for
your thesis or dissertation?
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25. What are ETD Access Restrictions?
• Access Restriction (aka, Embargo) = your thesis
or dissertation will not be publicly available
• Two Levels: Full Restriction & Partial Restriction
– Full = everything restricted from public view
– Partial = abstract and/or table of contents publicly
available, but full text and pdf restricted
• You need your advisor’s approval (and
signature) prior to submission.
• Access Restrictions = ALWAYS TEMPORARY
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26. So you want to publish a book/article/etc
with your thesis or dissertation….
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27. Future Publication
 You are the copyright owner of your dissertation-
you may re-publish in any way you wish.
 If you are concerned that a publisher will
consider the ETD a prior publication, contact the
publisher to discuss.
 When you sign your author’s agreement, tell
your publisher about your ETD.
 Access restriction information
 Our ETD Repository is Open Access
 Exclusive agreements need amendment
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28. Open Access
• Open Access means…
– Your thesis or dissertation is freely available on the
web in the ETD repository
– Your thesis or dissertation is still protected by
copyright
– You do NOT need to pay the additional fees ($120) to
ProQuest for the Open Access Option
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29. A brief aside about ProQuest….
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30. ProQuest Forms
• Read the text of the agreement before you sign
it to make sure you understand what your
signing
• If you are seeking a 6-year access restriction,
email ProQuest for special instruction.
DO NOT CHOOSE THE
“Open Access Publishing”
OPTION
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31. Registering Copyright & ProQuest
• For dissertations
– Must complete a ProQuest Publishing Agreement. If
you choose, ProQuest will register your copyright for
you for a fee ($55).
• For theses
– Optional to complete a ProQuest Publishing
Agreement and may choose to have ProQuest
register copyright for you for a fee ($55).
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32. Registering Copyright
• Copyright ownership is automatic, and no longer
requires © notice, so why register?
– Registration establishes a public record of the
copyright claim and deposits a copy in the Library of
Congress
– Registration is required before you can file a suit for
copyright infringement
– Registration within 3 months of publication allows
copyright owner to ask for statutory damages and
attorney’s fees
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33. Let the Q & A commence!
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34. Resources for help
• FAQ on Blackboard site Copyright Education
Initiative under Organizations
– https://classes.emory.edu/
• ETD website, Notes on Copyright and Patents
– https://etd.library.emory.edu/doc.php?id=ip
• Graduate School website (PhDs only; includes
link and password to ProQuest forms)
– http://www.graduateschool.emory.edu/resources/progr
ess.php?id=7
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35. Resources for help
• Copyright Questions?
– Melanie T. Kowalski:
• melanie.t.kowalski@emory.edu; 404-727-8286
• Office Hours: Mon 2-4pm, Thurs 10-12pm, M-F By Appt.
– Scholarly Communications Office
• http://web.library.emory.edu/copyright-and-publishing
• General Questions on ETD submissions?
– etd-help@listserv.cc.emory.edu
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