Copyright of Electronic Materials
Linda Morgan Davis
formerly of the Lovelace Sandia Health System, Medical Library,
Albuquerque, NM
Copyright issues have always been complex, vague and open to wide interpretation and misunderstanding. Now add to this situation the advent of electronic forms of information and the World Wide Web (Web). This fact sheet is meant as a guide to resources on electronic copyright for your use and your organization's. No legal interpretation is provided by this fact sheet.
The Basics
Copyright is the exclusive right to reproduce and control distribution of a creative work.
Electronic format materials are copyrighted in the same manner as print materials. As a rule of thumb, one needs to answer these three questions to decide whether you need permission to use a copyrighted work:
- Is the Material Protected?
- If the Material is Protected, do You Wish to Exercise One of the Owner's Exclusive Rights?
- Is Your Use Exempt or Excused From Liability for Infringement?
The University of Texas provides useful and easy to understand explanations of these three questions and much more in A Crash Course in Copyright.
Copyright in the Library: The Digital Library, also from the University of Texas, deals exclusively with electronic copyright issues with links to sections of the U.S. Copyright Act.
Another good primer is to be found at the site at the United States Copyright Office
A good question and answer format site about The Basics is, 10 Big Myths About Copyright Explained, by Brad Templeton, a publisher of an electronic newspaper on the Net.
Fair Use
What constitutes fair use as an exemption to obtaining an owner's permission? Almost everyone agrees that this concept is vague and hard to understand. Wouldn't guidelines help us understand this area better? A Conference on Fair Use (CONFU) was convened in Washington DC in 1995 to work on a series of guidelines. Two sites that address these guidelines and fair use issues are:
Fair
Use of Copyrighted Materials -- University of Texas
Copyright & Fair Use --
Stanford University Libraries
Permission to Copy
To find out what may be copied and what permissions may or may not be
required the Copyright Clearance Center (United States) has all the information
and guidelines you may need. Here you can get
permission to reproduce copyrighted content such as articles in journals,
book chapters, photocopies, coursepacks, library reserves, Web sites,
e-mail and more.
International Copyright
There is no international copyright that will protect an owner's work throughout the world. Most countries offer protection to foreign authored works under certain conditions which have been simplified by international conventions and treaties. It is important to remember that each country has its own unique set of copyright laws. Two good sites for more information on international issues are:
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) provides an overview of international copyright issues. It is important to remember that each country has its own copyright laws.
Berne
Convention Implementation Act of 1988
The Berne Convention is an international treaty signed by 96 countries,
including the U.S. The regulations of this Convention are more far-reaching
than U.S. Copyright Law.
Violations of Copyright
Information on the Web cannot be reproduced and copied without permission from the owner of the work and in some cases copyrighted works may have been posted to the Web without authorization from the owner.
In the United States, copyright violations are now a felony if they involve
more than 10 copies and a value of over $2,500. Recent cases can be found
at:
Important copyright decisions (BitLaw)
United States Sentencing Commission
Jury Convicts Man in DMCA Case
Kelly
v. Arriba Soft Corp. (9th Cir. 2003) 
(
56 kb)
Basic Books, Inc. v. Kinko's Graphics Corp., 758 F.Supp. 1522 (S.D.N.Y. 1991)
Campbell v. Acuff-Rose, 510 U.S. 569, 114 S.Ct. 1164 (1994)
NOTE: Questions or comments about the contents of this article should be addressed to the author, Linda Morgan Davis at ldavis@cabq.gov
