Copyright, Fair Use, and Mandala

9/22/17

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 right of "fair use" designed for non-profit research, teaching, and scholarship
- Materials in the "public domain"
- How to use Mandala in light of Copyright
It does not provide legal advice (please see disclaimer below)

U.S. copyright law provides for "fair use" of copyrighted materials without payment or permission in certain circumstances
- 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, work published prior to 1923 is in the "public domain" and can be reproduced and disseminated in any form
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"
Allows you to restrict each asset or collection as needed:
- Public
- Private
- Group
- Class

This advice orients you and better prepares you for a consultation with your attorney and/or the University's General Counsel
This document does not 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