If using copyrighted material for commercial or non-Fair-Use you must get permission in writing unless the work is in the public domain – using the work and citing the owner does NOT give copyright permission.
| Copyrighted Material | Non-Copyrighted Material |
| Books and Writings
Music and lyrics Plays Choreography/Dance Photographs, graphics, paintings and sculptural works – ALL ART Films and other audiovisual works Video games and computer software Sound recordings Architectural works |
Unfixed works that have not been recorded in a fixed form (e.g. a song you make up and sing to yourself)
Works in the public domain Titles, names, short phrases, familiar symbols or designs, numbers Ideas and facts Processes and systems (e.g., the Dewey decimal system) Federal government works (e.g., the tax code) |
Types of Copyright
© Traditional copyright – 95 years from publication if owned by corporation OR death of individual plus 70 years
Creative Commons – less restrictive than traditional copyright, but many varieties including: non-commercial use only, commercial use, can’t resize or change, can make changes, give credit or not
Public Domain – free use of any kind even for commercial use; pre-1923 works or if owner specifies public domain
FAIR USE
Fair Use means you can use some copyrighted materials in certain instances. There are no hard and fast rules, each case must be evaluated separately.
Fair Use Guidelines:
| Purpose of use:
Are you creating a new work, or just copying the original? Fair Use must be transformative and non-commercial. |
Nature of copyrighted work:
Factual is better than creative. |
| Amount of work used:
Less is better. Two pages or 10% are often the rule of thumb. |
Effect of new work on used work:
Are you competing with the original work, or will it be devalued in any way? Fair Use does not allow your new work to compete with the original. |
Allowed Fair Use:
- Research and scholarship – quotes with proper citing, paraphrasing another work
- Reporting – news stories
- Criticism and commentary
- Parody
- Some non-commercial use