Copyright Toolkit
Table of Contents

What is Copyright?
Is it in the Public Domain?
Is my use a Fair Use?
What if I’m a Teacher?
How Do I obtain Permission?
What about Libraries, Archives and Museums?
Creators & Scholarship


What is Copyright?

Copyright: A form of protection provided by the laws of the United States for “original works of authorship”, including literary, dramatic, musical, architectural, cartographic, choreographic, pantomimic, pictorial, graphic, sculptural, and audiovisual creations. “Copyright” literally means the right to copy but has come to mean that body of exclusive rights granted by law to copyright owners for protection of their work. Copyright protection does not extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, title, principle, or discovery. Similarly, names, titles, short phrases, slogans, familiar symbols, mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, coloring, and listings of contents or ingredients are not subject to copyright.

Definition from the U.S. Copyright Office https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/definitions.html

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Is it in the Public Domain?

Self-portrait of a female Celebes crested macaque (Macaca nigra) in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, who had picked up photographer David Slater’s camera and photographed herself with it. Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36464057

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Is my use a Fair Use?

By Óðinn (CC-BY-SA) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fair_use_logo.svg

Section 107 · Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism,comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include—
(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copy-righted work as a whole; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copy-righted work.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.
From U.S. Copyright Law Title 17: https://www.copyright.gov/title17/title17.pdf

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Raphael, Scuola di Atene (The School of Athens), 1509-1511

What if I’m a Teacher?

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How do I obtain Permission?

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Historic Photograph File of National Archives Events and Personnel. Left to Right: Elizabeth Hamer, Margaret (Peggy) Mangum, and Elizabeth Bukowsky encase bound volumes in Lucite containers aboard the Freedom Train. 1948. National Archives Identifier: 12167218 Local Identifier: 64-NA-1-36

What about Libraries, Archives and Museums?

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Creators & Scholarship

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