Copyright - Kentucky

To start your copyright analysis, you must begin with determining ownership. The basic principle here is that the author is the owner of the resource created. For more on this see the • University of Kentucky Office of Research Integrity webpage on Authorship and Publication: http://www.research.uky.edu/authorship.html.

Authors of works typically own the copyright of what they produce, however an important exception to the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 USC 201(a) is the “work for hire” doctrine. This exception applies when a certain type of work is created as part of a person’s job (that is, a product they were hired to create on a regular basis) or when that work was specially ordered and agreed upon – before beginning the work – that it is a work for hire. For more on this see the U.S. Copyright Office’s “Copyright Basics” and “Registration of Online Works”: http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ01.pdf and http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ66.pdf.

Two things are required to have joint authorship of a work: each person must contribute copyrightable expression and they must all intend at the time the work is created to be joint owners of the finished whole work. For more on this see The Copyright Website: http://www.benedict.com.

If a work is offered in the public domain, then there are not copyright restrictions. However, when copyright applies, there is a wide range of licensing options to protect creative expression – the most restrictive of which is for commercial publishing purposes. In a college class, you will be creating original works of scholarship. If you are not sure if you are producing an original work, consider the criteria for authorship described by the UK Office of Research Integrity (http://www.research.uky.edu/authorship.html). If you’re still not sure, review the definition of plagiarism as defined by the UK Senate Rules and explained on the UK Ombud’s website (http://www.uky.edu/Ombud/Plagiarism.pdf) or call the Academic Ombud at 859-257-3737. You can post a license on your work so that others can see most clearly how you intend for them to use your work appropriately. For more on how to make sure your class project is your own work and you are properly attributing ownership of others’ works, see the Creative Commons site, “Before Licensing”: http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Before_Licensing.

Whenever someone posts anything to the Internet the assumption should be that the material is copyright protected. However, it is considered fair if the use of the copyrighted materials is limited to educational purposes - certainly not for commercial purposes - and the choice of material is not very long. Of course, it’s always best to try and obtain written permission in advance for the use, even if limited, of someone else’s work. For more on this, see the Stanford University Libraries, Copyright & Fair Use website: http://fairuse.stanford.edu

Yes, individuals in a university are liable for their improper use of someone else’s work. It is usually best for the faculty or student to be careful about getting permission from an author and not to rely always on a claim of “fair use” in educational settings. The author may want to commercialize the work (or may have already) – or the faculty member and student may want to publish the collection of work. Being clear about who owns the material and how it can be used is critical. For more on this see Clemson University’s Center for Academic Integrity, case studies to talk about: http://www.academicintegrity.org/educational_resources/educational_materials/casestudies.php.

correct answer is A, B, C and D - all of the above. See more on getting permission to use someone else’s work at http://utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/permissn.htm.

The correct answers are A, B and C – but not D since the fair use guidelines relate only to copyrighted materials. Our rights as faculty or as students include the ability to use copyrighted material for limited though various purposes such as for scholarly comment, teaching and learning, critical analysis or news reporting. You can create an interactive chart for free at http://www.benedict.com/Info/FairUse/Visualizer/Visualizer.aspx that helps determine whether or not your use of another’s work falls under the “fair use” exception to copyright. (If your score is 50 or higher, you can upload your chart to YouTube for publication; see more on this at http://www.benedict.com/Info/FairUse/Visualizer/YouTubeVisualizer.aspx.)

The correct answer is A, B and D – the family photograph may be restricted in its use by the family who inherited the photo. See Lolly Gasaway’s chart “When Works Pass into the Public Domain” at http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm.

It is not clear that the images for the bibliography will come from sites that allow free re-use of their images. The other cases show the importance of allowing for the growth of a culture of creative exchange of original works. Scholars rely on each other to keep their ideas fresh and well-honed. We want others to have access to our work and use it. Lawrence Lessig of Harvard University asks us to think more broadly about knowledge – and how important it is to everyone’s future. So, instead of creating a work with “all rights reserved,” offer up your original work with “some rights reserved” (as in Creative Commons) or free for anyone to share or to remix and share. See Lessig, “Getting our Values around Copyright Right,” EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 45, No 2 (March/April 2010): 26-42.

Final Thoughts:
If you’re not sure about the research you are doing and you think you may need some help with how the materials can be used, contact a U.K. reference librarian via email, phone or instant messaging (Ask-A-Librarian, http://www.uky.edu/Libraries/page.php?lweb_id=15). For further clarification of the copyright law, please contact the UNIVERSITY LEGAL COUNSEL AT 257-2936.