Copyright Guide

Copyright is a legal right, grounded in the United States Constitution, that gives the owner of copyright in a work the exclusive right to:

• Reproduce (make copies of ) the work; and
• Modify or prepare derivative works based on the work. (Examples of derivative works include translations, transforming printed works into musicals or films, rearrangements of scores, and any other recast, transformation or adaptation of a work); and
• Distribute the work in any format by sale, publication, license, rental, or for free; and
• Publicly perform or display the work; and
• Authorize others to exercise some or all of those rights

Original works, whether or not published, that exist in a tangible medium that can be touched, seen, heard, read and fall into one of the following categories are protected by copyright.

Copyright applies to a wide variety of works including, but not limited to:

1. Literary works
2. Musical works, lyrics, and sound recordings
3. Dramatic works
4. Pantomimes and choreographic works
5. Visual works (photographs, paintings, sculptures, maps, logos, etc.)
6. Multimedia works, movies, and other audio-visual works
7. Software code
8. Architectural works, etc.

These works are protected from the moment they are in a fixed format regardless of whether they contain a copyright notice or copyright has been registered.

Items not protected include, but are not limited to:

1. Titles, names, slogans
2. Ideas, procedures, methods, principles, concepts, systems
3. Works lacking originality (calendars, tape measures, rulers, etc.)
4. Works created by employees of the U.S. Government in the course of their employment
5. Works comprised entirely of public domain information

Digital Copyright Slider -Developed by Michael Brewer & ALA Office for Information Technology Policy, this tool can help you determine the copyright status of a work.

The following works are in the public domain and can be used by anyone for any legal purpose without permission.

• Works created by U.S. government employees in the scope of their employment
• Works for which copyright protection has expired
• Works that do not contain the requisite originality (e.g., facts, blank forms)
• Works that contain a notice from the copyright owner expressly rejecting any claim of copyright and placing the work in the public domain

Unless you are sure a work you find on a website falls into one of these four categories, you must assume the work is protected by copyright.  See Using Copyrighted Material.

Determining copyright terms and what is in the public domain can be difficult; this site is an informational starting point.