Copyright, Fair Use, and Mandala

9/15/17

Overview

In the U.S., content including books, journal articles, photos, audio and video are intellectual property and therefore can be protected by copyright restrictions.
This document attempts to orient you about the "fair use" exemption designed for non-profit research, teaching, and scholarship
It does not provide legal advice (please see disclaimer below)

U.S. copyright law provides for "fair use" for non-profit research, teaching, and scholarship
- Generally this means that you can reproduce portions of a work without securing copyright permission from the publisher and/or author
Recent case law has held that fair use will be judged in light of purpose
- For sufficiently new or transformative purposes, quite a lot of a copyrighted work can be used.
- Old guidelines that emphasized counting words or calculated pre-determined percentages of a given work are no longer useful

Generally, books that are older than 20 years are in the "public domain" (and can be reproduced without copyright restrictions)
A thorough summary hosted by the University of North Carolina can help you assess whether a given work is in the Public Domain: http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm

These templates could be useful if you need to seek copyright permission or if your project requires a release form.

Supports your work within Copyright Law and "Fair Use"
Allow you to restrict each asset or collection as needed:
- Public
- Private
- Group
- Class

This advice orients you and better prepare you for a consultation with your attorney and/or the University's General Counsel
This document is not meant to substitute for legal advice.
This document focuses on U.S. copyright law and practice.
International copyright varies widely from U.S. law and practice.
Copyright law and it's interpretation are continually changing, particularly in the web environment.