Copyright Guidelines

Copyright Guidelines for ANGEL Course Web Pages (2006)

Related Link: University Policy on Use of Copyrighted Material(PDF)

U.S. copyright law governs materials posted on course web pages just as it covers the use of copyrighted materials in all teaching and research at the University. Each faculty member is responsible for verifying copyright compliance for materials placed on his or her course web pages. These guidelines are intended to give you basic information about posting materials and links to materials on your course web pages.

Copyright is probably not a concern with these materials:

• Your own materials, such as lecture notes, course syllabi, sample exams, problem sets, presentation slides, photos, video, or audio that you have taken or prepared, or articles you have written. Be sure you hold copyright to your own work and that you have not assigned your rights to a publisher.
• Publications of the U.S. government; federal documents published through the Government Printing Office are not protected by copyright.
• Texts in the public domain. Works published before 1923 are generally assumed to be out of copyright. If you have questions about the duration of copyright, look at When Works Pass into the Public Domain prepared by Lolly Gasaway at the University of North Carolina Law School.
• Freeware that the author has chosen to make available.
• Links to another page on the web. Linking to materials in resources licensed by the university libraries or materials lawfully posted on the web is an effective method of providing access. Be sure to clearly identify the original web page. To avoid having the linked page appear as if it is your own page, set the Angel ''link target'' to be a ''new window.'' Use the persistent or stable document URL provided by many publishers or full text databases; this URL often appears on the citation or abstract screen that contains the link to the full text of article.

Copyright may be a problem if you use materials normally protected by copyright, such as journal articles; excerpts from books; musical works, scores, lyrics, sound recordings; pictorial/graphic works, art, photographs; audio/visual works, motion pictures, videos; computer software.

To post materials normally protected by copyright, you need to get permission, or your use of the material needs to qualify as an exception. Always keep the following in mind:

• Include complete citations to original works and display copyright notices.
• Restrict access to the course web to students enrolled in the course, teaching assistants, or other faculty or staff working with the class.
• Remove copyrighted materials from the course web when the course ends.
• To use the same copyrighted material in subsequent semesters, you may need to get permission to reuse the material and you may need to pay a fee.
• The amount of copyrighted work for which use is permitted depends on the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole. You may choose to adhere to the standards set forth in Guidelines on Multiple Copies for Classroom Use published in House Report 94-1476. See also the memorandum on ''Duplication and Use of Copyrighted Material'' issued on July 17, 2003 by the University's Office of General Counsel.
• The material used should not substitute for the purchase of textbooks or course packets.