Copyright and Fair Use

• literary, musical, dramatic works
• pantomimes and choreographic works
• pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works
• motion pictures, sound recordings, and other audiovisual works
• architectural works

As soon as an item is stored on something permanent (computer disks included), it's copyrighted. It does not have to be registered, nor does it have to specifically say it's copyrighted. If you found it on the Web and it's "worthy of copyright," it's copyrighted. A small red ball wouldn't be worthy of copyright, so you could safely use one that you found on the Web as a bullet, but you couldn't use a picture of Winnie the Pooh you found on the Disney Web site.

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The law is vague, however, on the details of the fair use exemptions. In an effort to clarify the concept of fair use, the Consortium of College and University Media Centers (CCUMC) initiated and coordinated the creation of the "Educational Multimedia Fair Use Guidelines," which were released in July, 1996.

The Fair Use Guidelines summarize what may be done with copyrighted work without asking for permission. (Not that asking for permission is that much trouble, really. In many cases copyright holders will give you permission to use their work for scholarly or educational purposes. Any of the campus offices listed in the article can help you with this.)

The entire text of the Guidelines is at http://www.libraries.psu.edu/avs/fairuse/guidelinedoc.html

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Guidelines for students who use copyrighted work in a class project:

• May use in course for which project created
• May use in their own portfolios, with no time limits

Guidelines for educators who use copyrighted work in educational or scholarly works:

• May use for up to two years without permission; formal permission is required after two years
• May use portions to support their teaching, both face-to-face and in assignments
• May retain copies for use at conferences and in portfolios, with no limitations on time

Limitations:

Time:

up to two years without permission

Portion:

Motion Media: 10% or three minutes, whichever is less

Text: 10% or 1000 words, whichever is less (except poems)

Music: up to 10%, but no more than 30 seconds

Illustrations and photographs: less than five images per artist

Data Sets: 2500 fields or cells or 10%, whichever is less

Special cases:

poems, email, online chats, LISTSERV discussions, Web cameras; see the guidelines for further information

Copies:

no more than two copies, which may be placed on reserve

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