© Copyright |
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| Right established by U.S. Constitution |
"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" -U.S. Constitution, Article I, § 8 Authors and artists have the right to control the use of work which they created in any "tangible medium of expression." -Title 17 U.S. Code |
| Fair use | Fair use is a complicated exemption to the copyright law. This provision may allow you to reproduce part of a work without the author's permission for education, research, criticism, or news reporting. |
| ©
Notice and the Berne Convention |
The U. S. follows the Berne Convention (a treaty signed by 96 countries). If your work was created on or after March 1, 1989, it is copyrighted even if you don't include a copyright notice. (This includes work in digital format: web sites, email, and posts to web forums.) A notice provides warning and is recommended but is not required. |
| Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 |
17 U.S. Code § 512. Law has five titles; Title II shelters nonprofit educational institutions by saying they (as ISP and employer) are not responsible for infringement by employees, unless college knows of the violation. The Act does not protect employees. DMCA also includes provisions to promote distance education through digital technologies, such as webcasting. |
| TEACH
Act 2002 See ALA link below |
TEACH (Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act) expands fair use rights for the classroom in response to the growth of distance education. The act applies to U.S. accredited, nonprofit educational institutions and has several requirements such as creating policies, providing copyright information materials, giving specific notice to students, and restricting content to enrolled students. |
| Public domain
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This is the realm that is not protected by copyright and belongs to the entire community. Many older works on the Internet, such as those of Shakespeare, are in public domain because the copyright has expired. Unless the site author states otherwise, assume that files and information on the Internet, including Usenet and email postings, are copyrighted, that is they are not in public domain. You should ask permission to copy such information. |
| Duration of copyright | Works created since 1978 may be copyrighted for the life of the author plus 70 years after author's death. Legislation passed in 1998 extended this term by 20 years (from 50 to 70). Works created before 1978 are protected for 95 years from date of original copyright. For works made for hire and anonymous and pseudonymous works (unless identity is in Copyright Office records) term is 95 years from the year of first publication or 120 years from the year of creation, whichever is shorter. See U.S. Copyright Office. |
| Registration | Though creation in tangible form establishes an author's rights to a work, formal registration with the U.S. Copyright Office is needed to file suit for infringement. |
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sbooth@qcc.mass.edu (Sheila Booth)