Computer Policies
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
Introduction
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act amends federal copyright law to provide certain liability protections for online service providers, including Yeshiva University, when their computer systems or networks carry materials that violate (infringe) copyright law. To qualify for liability protection, the university is required to have a policy under which the computer accounts of users will be terminated if they repeatedly infringe the copyrighted works of others.
Policy Statement
Compliance with federal copyright law is expected of all students, faculty and staff at Yeshiva University. "Copyright" is legal protection for creative intellectual works, which is broadly interpreted to cover just about any expression of an idea. Text (including email and web information), graphics, art, photographs, music, and software are examples of types of work protected by copyright. The creator of the work, or sometimes the person who hired the creator, is the initial copyright owner.
You may "use" all or part of a copyrighted work only if (a) you have the copyright owner's permission, or (b) you qualify for a legal exception (the most common exception is called "fair use"). "Use" of a work is defined for copyright purposes as copying, distributing, making derivative works, publicly displaying, or publicly performing the work.
Copying, distributing, downloading, and uploading cop righted information may infringe the copyright for that information. Even an innocent, unintentional infringement violates the law. Infringements that violate the law may take place on the internet or by using local resources to copy media such as CDs DVDs and USB drives. Violations of copyright law that occur on or over the university's networks or other computer resources may create liability for the university as well as the computer user. Accordingly, repeat infringers will have their computer account and other access privileges terminated by Yeshiva University.
Learn more about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Use of Copyright Material
Every employee of Yeshiva University must fully comply with all restrictions on the use of copyrighted material in any activity related to his or her employment, or while using University owned or furnished computer equipment and/or computer network. This requirement applies to every type of usage of such material including publishing and reproduction by traditional means and including but not limited to the use of the Internet and the World Wide Web.
While copyrighted material may sometimes be used without permission, such circumstances are very limited. The most common method of compliance is to request and obtain permission of the copyright owner to use the copyrighted material. The penalties for unauthorized use of copyrighted material ("infringement") can be substantial and may result in personal liability to the unauthorized user.
Any questions regarding the use of copyrighted material should be directed to the office of the University's General Counsel before the material is used.