Copyright: Introduction

The Federal and State laws of copyright affect the University community in many different ways. Faculty, administrators, staff and students all confront copyright issues in going about the daily life of the University. Copyright considerations may arise in the context of preparing materials for classroom teaching and readings for students, in showing films on campus and in dormitories, in on-campus performances of music and theatre, in listening to music and viewing or downloading materials through your computer, to cite a few of many possible examples. This introduction will direct you to sources for answering some of your copyright questions. There is a great deal of information about copyright available on the Web, and some of the sites that we have found useful are included below for your information. You should feel free to contact Susan Sawyer, Associate General Counsel, by phone at 432-4949, or by email at susan.sawyer@yale.edu, if you have any questions.

If you are faculty, you may find useful the Yale OGC memo on “Copyright: Academic Copying and Student Course Packets.” This can be accessed by clicking here.

For information on registering a work with the U.S. Copyright Office, or searching to see if a work is registered with the Copyright Office, please see the official website of that Office, http://www.copyright.gov.

Students should be aware that the Undergraduate Regulations requires them to adhere to the copyright laws as does the ITS Appropriate Use Policy, which can be accessed by clicking here. Repeated or serious violations of the copyright laws can result in a referral to the Yale College Executive Committee or even in criminal prosecution or civil liability. Students are advised to be particularly conscientious about respecting copyrights in the context of sharing, downloading or copying of music, films or video games over the campus computer network. In that connection, the University has made available to the entire University community a low cost, legal alternative to online music through CTRAX. There are also other legitimate commercial options such as iTunes, Napster and Rhapsody.

Film Societies and other student groups who organize film viewings on campus must obtain permission (usually for a fee) to do so. This is true regardless of whether the event is free and restricted to limited viewers, such as students in a particular college. There are two major licensing companies for films: Swank Motion Pictures (http://www.swank.com) and Criterion Motion Pictures (http://www.criterionpicusa.com), each of which licenses particular titles. The websites for both of these companies allow you to see what films they represent and provide contact information. For obtaining permission from Swank you may call Lois Hirschhorn at 800-876-3344, or by email at lhirschhorn@swank.com. For Criterion, please use the information available online.

Other useful websites:

• The Copyright Clearance Center: for permission to reproduce written works.
• A chart prepared by Lolly Gasaway, counsel at the University of North Carolina, which provides information in when works pass into the public domain.
• Intellectual property website created by Georgia Harper, of the Office of General Counsel, University of Texas System. Provides basics on copyrights, in particular on issues relevant to the university community.
• A similar website from North Carolina State University.
• A Stanford website with a focus on fair use and library use.