Copyright Protection
Stony Brook faculty need to be aware of copyright law and fair
use doctrine when utilizing the work of others in your teaching curriculum.
This document provides a synopsis of your rights and responsibilities
as established by the Copyright Act of 1976. A number of links below are
provided for additional reference. Copyright protection vests automatically
in original works of authorship that are "fixed in any tangible medium
of expression". 17 USC § 102(a). Writings, images, art, movies,
music, computer programs and other works are all protected by copyright
law.
The protection applies even if the work lacks a copyright notice and is
not registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. Although works in the ‘public
domain’ (such as works of the U.S. government and factual data)
do not enjoy copyright protection, copyrights today usually last through
the life of the author, plus seventy years.
The State University of New York acknowledges the right of individual
faculty members to copyright and publish works that they produce. By the
same token, the faculty must acknowledge the value of copyrighted works
produced by others.
Whenever you use another’s work in your teaching curriculum, you
are using copyright-protected materials. Among the rights of copyright
owners is the right to make copies and publicly display that work. A group
of students – assembled or dispersed – would be considered
the "public" under the law. As a result, educators may be violating
third party intellectual property rights whenever materials are copied
as handouts, uploaded to websites, displayed as slides or with other images,
or when music, videos, and other works are performed.
Be aware that copyright owners have the right to sue individual infringers.
Although they may also sue the University, that will not insulate a person
who violates another’s intellectual property rights from the full
force of a lawsuit. The penalties are significant – the court can
award up to $150,000 for each separate act of willful infringement. Moreover,
ignorance of the law is no excuse. Under the Copyright Act, the infringing
party will still be liable for actual or statutory damages.
In the context of traditional teaching, the Copyright Act of 1976 includes
a provision that allows instructors to reproduce copyrighted materials
in the face-to-face classroom setting. 17 USC § 107, known as the
“fair use” doctrine, permits faculty to use another’s
work for purposes such as criticism, comment, illustration, scholarship
and research, under circumstances that do not impermissibly infringe on
the copyright owner’s fundamental rights to reproduce, distribute,
perform or display the work.
Four factors must be evaluated:
1. the purpose and character of the use: is it of a commercial nature
or for educational purposes.
2. the nature of the copyrighted work.
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used (NY courts have found
use of as little as five percent of another’s work to be problematic).
4. the effect of the use on the potential market for or value of the copyrighted
work.
The University of Texas has developed some useful guidelines for evaluating
whether or not a given use is permissible under the fair use doctrine,
at http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/copypol2.htm#test
The rules for distance education, however, are significantly different.
The fair use requirements that must be met to take advantage of the doctrine
are much more rigorous when materials are uploaded to websites, available
for transmission anywhere in the world, and can be easily downloaded,
altered, or further transmitted by students and other users. Every such
action – particularly the possibility of uncontrolled dissemination
– threatens the legally protected property interests of copyright
owners.
Additional guidance is available at these useful sites:
The Visual Resources Association: http://www.vraweb.org/resources.html
The Music Library Association: http://www.lib.jmu.edu/org/mla/guidelines
The Copyright Management Center, Purdue University: http://www.copyright.iupui.edu
The U.S. Copyright Office: http://www.copyright.gov and http://www.copyright.gov/circs
North Carolina State University: http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/scc/copyright/copyright4.html
Cornell University: http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/index.htm
Manhattanville College: http://www.mville.edu/Administration/staff/Jeff_Rosedale/index.htm
For a printable pdf of this document please click on Copyright Protection