WMU > OIT > Rules & Policies

Revised: 6/2008

Copyright Guidelines

Just because you find materials available on the net or find it easy to scan them in from a book or magazine does not mean that you have a right to publish them! Most printed or online materials are protected by copyright, that is, the lack of a copyright notice on published materials doesn't imply that they aren't copyrighted. Most material is automatically copyrighted upon publication unless its author explicitly states otherwise.

However, what you want to do may fit within the legal definition of "fair use". According to the U.S. Copyright Act:

17 U.S.C. S107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair Use

Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, the fair use of a copyrighted work, ... for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use, the factors to be considered shall include --

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Our policy in regards to Web documents on Office of Information Technology administrated Web servers, or for other documents on Web servers maintained by University departments, offices, or organizations, will be not to exercise prior restraint on WWW publishers' decisions with regard to copyright. However, OIT will respond to complaints from inside or outside the University, and take action to remove copyright-violating materials that are brought to our attention.

Reference

• Copyright Information from Academic Technology and Instructional Services
• Digital Millennium Copyright Act Violations