Copyright: Using Copyrighted Material

On this page you'll find information about: 

Fair Use

• Evaluation

TEACH Act

• Streaming Media

Public Domain

The general rule of thumb is to seek permission from the copyright owner to use protected works, as they hold exclusive rights to the work. There are exceptions to those exclusive rights. US Code, Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 107-112 outlines limitations of owners' rights. The most common exceptions include:

Fair Use

Fair Use is not a blanket copyright exception, rather it is intended for purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research with respect to how much of a work is used.  

Fair use rules do not state a concrete maximum of usable material (not a number of words or pages, length of time, or percent of the total). Fair use also does not mean that Western users can use/distribute any copyrighted material they want simply because Western is a non-profit, educational institution, as we are also bound by copyright law.

Evaluating Fair Use

• Purpose - how the material will be used (educational, non-profit, commercial, transformative uses)
• Nature - non-fiction versus creative works; published versus unpublished works
• Amount - breadth and depth of the work used
• Effect - impact on potential markets for the work

Fair Use guidelines are just that. Each person must assess whether their usage complies with Fair Use guidelines. Please see Cornell University's Fair Use Checklist to aid in your decision-making. The form is also available as a PDF file at the top of this page. Users are encouraged to keep the completed checklist for their records. 

​TEACH Act

 Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH) Act. The TEACH Act revises Section 110(2) of the Copyright Act to expand instructors' ability to use protected works in digital teaching materials. Copyright law provides educators with a separate set of rights in addition to fair use, to display (show) and perform (show or play) others' works in the classroom.

This Act bridges the gap between using copyrighted material in the "traditional classroom" and distance learning. There are some requirements, such as providing the material's copyright information to students and verifying that they are enrolled in your course. Fair Use principles also apply. Stated bluntly, this law is not intended to permit the scanning and uploading of full or lengthy works, stored on a website, for indefinite access.

One thing to note, streaming media sites such as Netflix and HULU license to individuals for personal use, which trumps the TEACH Act and Fair Use because you, as the user, have entered into an agreement with the company. Netflix has designated some films for educational use and you can find those listed with "Grant of Permission" or Educational Screenings Permission (ESP) in the details section of designated films. ​

​Public Domain

Generally, copyright lasts the life of the creator plus seventy years after the date of death. Once that period of time expires, or if the creator fails to comply with any legal formalities required at the time of creation or thereafter, the work enters the public domain - meaning it belongs to everyone, without restriction. The creator may also decide before the expiration of the copyright to dedicate the work to the public domain, giving that new creation for public use. Orphan works retain normal copyright, while anonymous works retain copyright 120 years from the date of creation.

Works published before 1928 are considered public domain (expired or released copyright); works published before 1978 without a copyright notice are also in the public domain (compliance failure); and government information is also in the public domain – this will include federally-funded research by the end of 2025. [From Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP)].

To determine when works entered or will enter the Public Domain., see this comprehensive chart of copyright lengths by Peter HIrtle of Cornell University or take a deep dive into the Public Domain Information Project. 

Fair Use video from U.S. Copyright Office, 2019. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFhF_tHrj4s