This presentation, designed for use in high school and undergraduate classes, provides an introduction to copyright, public domain, fair use, Creative Commons and associated best practices.

1. A L S T O N C O B O U R N
D I G I T A L S C H O L A R S H I P L I B R A R I A N
T H I S W O R K I S L I C E N S E D U N D E R A C R E A T I V E C O M M O N S
A T T R I B U T I O N - N O N C O M M E R C I A L - S H A R E A L I K E 4 . 0 I N T E R N A T I O N A L
L I C E N S E .
Using Information: Make It
Legal, Make it Ethical

2. What is Copyright?
“A property right that protects the interests of authors
or other creators of works in tangible media (or the
individual or organization to whom copyright has been
assigned) by giving them the ability to control the
reproduction, publication, adaptation, exhibition, or
performance of their works.”
~Copyright, Society of American Archivists Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology,
http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/c/copyright

3. W&L Copyright Policy
 Includes guidelines for:
 Photocopying
 Use of films and video
 Use of images
 Use of copyrighted music
 Use of computer software
 Includes accepted methods of obtaining permission
 http://www2.wlu.edu/x30754.xml

4. Is THIS Protected by Copyright?
The Public Domain
 Some items are not protected by copyright
 Can be used by everyone without restriction
 Because they were created in a time when copyright
laws were different, so never got copyright protection
 Or because their copyright term has expired
 Or because they were created by the federal
government

5. Tools to Help
Chart
Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the
United States
http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cf
m
© 2004-13 Peter B. Hirtle. Last updated 3 January, 2013. Use of this chart, which is
hosted at Cornell Copyright Information Center website, is governed by the Creative
Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

6. If So, Can I Claim Fair Use?
Fair use is “a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by
copyright law to the author of a creative work.”
In the U.S. fair use means people can use copyrighted materials in certain
limited ways without getting permission from the copyright holder.
~Wikipedia, Fair Use, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use
You must consider these 4 factors:
 the purpose and character of the use, including whether it is commercial or
for nonprofit educational purposes
 the nature of the copyrighted work
 the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the whole
work
 the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the work

7. Tools to Help
Online Tool
Fair Use Automated Tool
https://www.lib.umn.edu/copyright/fairthoughts
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License. © 2010 Regents of the University of Minnesota.
All rights reserved.

8. Creative Commons & Other Resources
 Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that
authors can use to generate copyright licenses that
grant six different sets of sharing and usage
privileges.
 Library’s Finding and Using Images webpage
http://library.wlu.edu/research/images/

9. Attribution
 Required by all Creative Commons licenses
 Not required by copyright law
 Best practice because:
 Gives legitimacy to your work
 Allows others to build off your work
 Ethical to give credit where credit is due
 Avoid plagiarism (claiming the work of another as your own)

10. When All Else Fails, Ask for Permission!
 Sometimes the best thing to do is ask the copyright
holder for permission even if you think you have
a legitimate fair use claim because
 It is polite
 It erases all doubt
 The author’s website has a statement saying that you must ask
permission
 Some copyright holders do pay attention to how and where
their work is used

11. Contact
Alston Cobourn
Assistant Professor and Digital Scholarship Librarian
Leyburn Library 110C
cobourna@wlu.edu
540-458-8657