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Here at the libraries, we get a lot of questions about copyright. Although the ultimate authority for questions about copyright at the Health Science Center is the Office of Legal Affairs, we would like to share some basic information that we feel is important for students and faculty to understand so you can get your work done without copyright problems.

Five Myths About Copyright

1. “If it’s published openly on the Internet, I’m free to copy and repost at will.”
2. “If I’m using it for educational or noncommercial purposes, it’s ‘fair use’ and I don’t need to seek permission.”
3. “If it doesn’t include the ©, it’s not copyrighted.”
4. “If it’s out of print, it’s out of copyright.”
5. “If I wrote it, it can’t infringe anyone else’s copyright.”

Five Principles for Copyright Success

1. Link instead of copying
2. Always acknowledge your sources
3. Seek permission to reuse, redistribute or adapt
4. Creative Commons makes it easy
5. Manage your own copyrights wisely

Five Tools That Can Help

1. Link Generator
2. Citation Help Resources
3. Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) Academic License
4. Creative Commons & Other Reuse-Safe Searches
5. Copyright Management Resources

The laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) protect the authors or creators of original works of authorship through the legal concept of copyright. These original works include literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, scientific, and certain other intellectual works. UT Health Science Center at San Antonio expects all members of its community to comply with U.S. copyright laws, and refers all users of its technological and information resources to the description of copyright law included in the Use of Copyrighted Materials in the UTHSCSA Handbook of Operating Procedures, Chapter 2.3.2.

Copyright can be a complex concept with many nuances. Authoritative websites have been developed to help provide guidance to those individuals needing to understand copyright either as the creator of a work or as the potential user of a work covered by copyright protection. For more detailed information concerning U. S. copyright law, users may consult the websites listed below.

• U.S. Copyright Office. Circular 1. Copyright Basics.
• UT System Office of General Counsel. Copyright.
• UT System Office of General Counsel. Copyright Clearance Center License Implementation (UT Authentication Required).
• University of Texas Libraries. The Copyright Crash Course.
• Copyright Clearance Center. Copyright Basics.
• Copyright Clearance Center. The Campus Guide to Copyright Compliance for Academic Institutions.
• Creative Commons.
• UT Health Science Center at San Antonio Libraries. 5x5x5: What Students and Faculty Need to Know About Copyright.
• Stanford University Libraries. Copyright & Fair Use.

Myth 1: “If it’s published openly on the Internet, I’m free to copy and repost at will.”

Some people confuse the fact that a work is “publicly accessible,” available for anyone to read or download on the Internet, with the idea that it’s in the “public domain,” and thus not subject to copyright protections.  In fact, those two concepts have nothing to do with one another.  Nearly all work published on the Internet is subject to copyright protections.

Copyright applies to all “original works of authorship” as soon as they are fixed in some tangible form of expression.  As soon as you click “save” or “publish,” you have created a copyrighted work, and you own the copyright on that work until or unless you give, sell, or sign some or all those rights over to someone else.  So every work of original creation that is written, recorded, notated, drawn, photographed, or otherwise captured — including a work published on the Internet — is protected by copyright.

Myth 2: “If I’m using it for educational or noncommercial purposes, it’s ‘fair use’ and I don’t need to seek permission.”

Not all educational or noncommercial uses automatically qualify as “fair use”.  Although the law sets out purposes and factors to be considered when judging whether a use is fair or infringing, the ultimate judgment would lie in a court’s interpretation.  Examples of activities that courts have found “fair” include: “quotation of excerpts in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment; quotation of short passages in a scholarly or technical work, for illustration or clarification of the author’s observations; use in a parody of some of the content of the work parodied; summary of an address or article, with brief quotations, in a news report; … reproduction by a teacher or student of a small part of a work to illustrate a lesson…” [Register of Copyrights, 1961, quoted in US Copyright Office FL-102, 2009].  In the same document, the Copyright Office explains that “[t]he distinction between fair use and infringement may be unclear and not easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission. Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission.”

So the “fair use” doctrine may be a defense against infringement claims for a one-time use of a limited amount of material used for teaching, scholarship, or research, if you don’t have time to receive permission in advance of the use.  However, you should always attempt to obtain permission from the rightsholder if you will be copying significant portions of a work, redistributing it, or creating a new work based upon it — and you should document your attempt to get that permission before using the material.

Fortunately, here at the Health Science Center, you have a couple of alternatives that you can use to avoid the need to seek permission:

1. You have access to an enormous amount of material through the library, so if you can link readers to that content online instead of copying or distributing it, you do not need permission.  By using the library’s linking service, you will assure that only authorized Health Science Center users have access to the copyrighted material.  You can learn more about how to link to library material here.
2. If you’re sharing published materials such as journal articles or book chapters with other UT System employees, students or colleagues, your use may be covered by the UT System’s Annual Academic License from the Copyright Clearance Center.  You can learn more about the Copyright Clearance Center Annual License here.

Myth 3: “If it doesn’t include the ©, it’s not copyrighted.”

Since 1989, a copyright notice is not required for a work to be covered by copyright protection.  Registering copyright with the US Copyright Office gives rightsholders the option to pursue damages in court for infringement, but it is also not required for a work to be protected by copyright.  All original works of authorship are protected by copyright as soon as they are fixed in tangible form, whether or not they include a notice or are registered.

Myth 4: “If it’s out of print, it’s out of copyright.”

Even if an item is out of print, it still is subject to copyright protections during a certain amount of time.  That amount of time has varied through the years, but in the US, nearly all works published since 1923 are still under copyright protection.  Current works will not enter the public domain for a long time: works published since 1978 are generally subject to copyright protections until 70 years after the author’s death.  This document from the Cornell Copyright Information Center breaks down the duration of copyright under US law for different works and circumstances.

Myth 5: “If I wrote it, it can’t infringe anyone else’s copyright.”

Generally, authors own the copyrights on works they create.  However, authors sometimes sign publication agreements with publishers without reading and negotiating them carefully.  Some publication agreements involve the transfer of rights from the author to the publisher, which could prevent the author from copying or distributing the material in some cases.  It’s important for authors to always read and understand publication agreements before signing them, and to negotiate them with publishers if the terms are unfavorable.

Further reading:

Bailey J. Copyright myths [Internet]. New Orleans: Plagiarism Today; 2011. Available from: http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/stopping-internet-plagiarism/your-copyrights-online/3-copyright-myths/

Jassin LJ. Ten common copyright permission myths. New York: CopyLaw.com; 2011. Available from: http://www.copylaw.com/new_articles/copy_myths.html

Keyt R. Top 10 urban copyright myths. Phoenix (AZ): KeytLaw: A Legal Information Resource; 2009. Available from: http://www.keytlaw.com/Copyrights/top10myths.htm

Templeton B. 10 big myths about copyright explained [Internet]. [n.p.]: templetons.com; 2008. Available from: http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html

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Principle 1: Link instead of copying.

What’s the best way to share an article with your students or colleagues?  Many people are accustomed to scanning or saving the article to their computer, and then attaching that copy to an email, or posting it online in a system like Blackboard.  Unfortunately, doing so means copying and distributing the article — both activities that are restricted by copyright.

To avoid those problems, it’s far better to find or create a link (URL) that points to an authorized online copy of the article, such as one posted by the publisher.  When you use the library’s Link Generator, you assure that only authorized Health Science Center users have access to the copyrighted material, and that they can access it without problems both on-campus and off-campus.

Besides reducing copyright hassles, there are other advantages to distributing links instead of copied articles:

• Some email systems limit the number or size of attachments that users can send or receive, but links don’t have that problem.
• Links don’t fill up computer storage limits — such as those in a Blackboard course site — like PDF documents do.

Principle 2: Always acknowledge your sources.

Researchers and educators recognize the ethical importance of citing their sources in all scholarly work.  The same principle extends to all teaching materials, writing and presentations you create — not only for quotes and text excerpts, but also every time you use images, videos, audio, or multimedia created by others.  Citing your sources is not a substitute for making sure you have proper permission to use those sources — and it isn’t a legal protection against an infringement claim.  Nonetheless, it’s an important example to set for students and colleagues, and some licenses grant permission to use material with the specific requirement that you acknowledge the creator or source of the material.

If you’re not sure how to properly cite material you’re using, we have some suggested tools and sources for you.

Principle 3: Seek permission to copy, redistribute or adapt material.

If you intend to copy, redistribute, adapt or perform a whole work or significant portion of it for your class, presentation, or project, you should always attempt to obtain permission from the rightsholder first.  This includes not just text, but also audio, video and images, which are often reused in their entirety (or near entirety).  You should document your request for permission before using the material, even if you don’t receive a response to your request before you give your class or turn in your project.

If the material was published with a copyright notice (i.e. “© 2006 Sample Publishing Inc.”) then it’s easy to know where to send the request — contact the person or company shown in the notice.  If not, then try to identify and start with the original author or publisher of the material — they can let you know if the rights have been transferred to someone else.  The University of Texas at Austin’s Copyright Crash Course includes a handy template for a permissions request letter that you can grab, fill in, and send.

Principle 4: Creative Commons makes it easy.

Many scholars and creators are happy for others to share, reuse and redistribute their work, and many don’t want to require everyone ask for permission as described above. In 2001, a group of education experts, technologists, legal scholars, investors, entrepreneurs and philanthropists came together to find a way to address this problem, and called themselves Creative Commons.  In 2002, the first Creative Commons licenses were released.  These licenses allow creators to retain the copyright to their work, but release their work for the public to use, with a few conditions (or in some cases, with no conditions at all).  The typical Creative Commons license allows anyone to reuse material, as long as they acknowledge the creator.  Some Creative Commons licenses allow reuse for only noncommercial purposes, some only allow uses that maintain the work in its original form (“No Derivatives”), and some require that any new work that adapts the licensed material also be released with a Creative Commons license (“Share Alike”).

For creators and authors who wish to allow others to share their work, Creative Commons licenses make it easy to ensure that their intentions are understood up front. For people searching for material to reuse and adapt, Creative Commons licenses make it easy to find that material and use it in a way that respects the creator’s wishes or conditions.  To choose a Creative Commons license and learn how to apply it to your work, use the “Choose a License”  tool.  We’ve also got some suggestions on how to easily search for Creative-Commons-licensed material that you can reuse and adapt for your own work.

Principle 5: Manage your own copyrights wisely.

Scholars are generally interested in ensuring the widest possible distribution of their work, to promote their own career growth and contribute to scholarship in their field. However, some publishers ask authors to sign over copyright in their work to the publisher as part of a publication agreement.  This can inhibit authors’ ability to reuse or distribute their own works to colleagues, students, or online repositories.  If authors don’t retain certain rights, it can also be difficult for them to comply with the terms of grants such as those from the NIH, which require authors to make their work available in a public repository (i.e. PubMed Central).

It is important for authors to understand that publication agreements are negotiable.  Many authors have successfully renegotiated these agreements with publishers, have stricken problematic language, or have attached addenda that retain important rights for themselves — and publishers have accepted these changes.

It’s critical that you carefully read any publication agreement that you are asked to sign by a publisher.  If there is language you disagree with, cross it out and write in alternative language.  You can also attach an addendum that spells out the rights you wish to retain.  One example of such an addendum is the SPARC Author Addendum, which is explained in further detail here.

Further reading:

Creative Commons. Creative Commons [Internet]. Mountain View (CA): Creative Commons; 2011. Available from http://creativecommons.org/

Harper GK. Copyright Crash Course [Internet]. Austin (TX): University of Texas Libraries; 2007. Available from: http://copyright.lib.utexas.edu

Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition. SPARC Resources for Authors [Internet]. Washington: Association of Research Libraries; 2011. Available from: http://www.arl.org/sparc/author/

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