Understanding Copyright

Please be advised that the Library staff cannot advise on questions of possible copyright infringement; if you require legal advice, you should consult with a legal practitioner licensed to practice in your jurisdiction.

The Library offers links to copyright information furnished by the United States Copyright Office and other organizations for the convenience of the Knox College community. The Library makes these resources accessible for informational purposes only and bears no responsibility for the quality of information provided through other sites.

General Copyright Information

• Copyright Term and the Public Doman in the United States
  by Peter B. Hirtle of the Cornell Coypright Information Center is a chart detailing copyright spans for various types of materials.
• Copyright and Cultural Ins institutions: Guidelines for Digitization for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, also by Peter B. Hirtle, is a free downloadable book in pdf.
• Copyright Basics (pdf format) is a circular prepared by the U.S. Copyright Office. See especially "What Copyright Is."
• The Columbia University Libraries Copyright Advisory Office has quite a bit of good information, including information about obtaining permissions.
• The American Library Association's Copyright Advisory Network has links to copyright basics web pages.
• The Association of Research Libraries has produced guidelines, "Performance of or Showing Films in the Classroom" on the delivery of digital material to the classroom.
• For copyright information related to music, see the Music Library Association's Copyright for Music Librarians page.
• The Visual Resources Association collects links and information related to copyright and visual materials on their Copyright, Intellectual Property Rights, Fair Use page.

Laws and Legislation

• Copyright: An Overview from the Cornell University School of Law.
• Copyright Law of the United States from the U.S. Copyright Office
• The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998: U.S. Copyright Office Summary
• The American Library Association's Copyright Advisory Network has links to interpretations of the TEACH Act.

Fair Use

• Circular 21: Reproduction of Copyrighted Works by Educators and Librarians (pdf format) A booklet prepared by the U.S. Copyright Office
• Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries from the Association of Research Libraries
• Copyright & Fair Use Stanford University Libraries' Copyright and Fair Use site
• Fair Use Evaluator is a tool from the Copyright Advisory Network.
• Fair Use Visualizer from the Copyright Website is on online tool to help you think through the elements of a fair use decision.
• Thinking Through Fair Use from the University of Minnesota Libraries includes a nifty fair use analysis tool.
• Fair Use Check List from the Copyright Management Center at Indiana University - Purdue University is a printable checklist.
• The Center for Social Media at the School of Communication at American University has a page about fair use, which is especially useful for questions related to fair use and moving images.
• Purdue University has a very simple page on fair use, including an analysis of the four factors used to determine fair use.