Copyright Resources

When determining whether or not you can reuse material, consider these questions: 

1. Is the work protected by copyright? 
   • Is the work that I want to use protected by copyright or is it in the public domain?
2. Are you the copyright owner? 
   • If you created the work, do you still own the copyright? If your work has been published, the agreement you signed with the publisher may or may not have given ownership to the publisher.
3. Is there a license (or legal exemption) that covers my use? 
   • Is there a Creative Commons license attached to the work? These licenses give certain permissions for re-use.
   • Are there agreements via licenses that the library has signed that allow reuse? 
4. Is there a case for Fair Use? 
   • See the Four Factors of Fair Use
5. Do I need permission from the copyright owner?
   • Locate the copyright owner and seek permission to reuse their work. 

Based on: “A Framework for Analyzing Any Copyright Problem,” by Kevin Smith, Lisa Macklin, and Anne Gilliland, CC-BY-SA.

1. Cite any material you reuse, at the point of reuse. Attribution may protect you against plagiarism, but is not the same as getting a copyright owner's permission to use their content.  

• Plagiarism vs. Copyright - Know the difference!
• Creative Commons Best Practices for Attribution

2. Link to copyright protected materials, rather than copy. Use permanent URLs when you can.

3. Request permission. If you request permission for a work, retain all your documentation and include "used by permission" in your attribution. (See "Asking for Permission" guidance from Columbia University Libraries.)

4. Claim Fair Use.