FAQs
Click on the questions under each category for brief answers:
1. What are the educational exceptions to copyright?
- How are the three teaching exceptions related, and when does each apply?
- Where can I find more detail about applying these exceptions?
2. How can I use other people’s copyrighted materials in teaching & research?
- Are there rules about what articles and other text I can scan myself and make available to students using my Blackboard course management site?
- I have two journals articles that I want every student in my class to read. May I make enough copies for everyone and hand them out? What about putting them in the library’s e-Reserves system? The library subscribes to both journals from which the articles are taken?
- Students in my language class are doing performances of plays and recitals of poetry that are being recorded. May I place these recordings where students in the class can watch them repeatedly to enforce the learning? Can I put them on the open Web to showcase my students’ talent?
- Since I am allowed to show a video in class to my students, can I also put a digital version of the same film into my course Blackboard site where enrolled students can watch at their convenience?
3. How can I deal with DRM protected materials?
- First things first, What is DRM?
- Are DRM systems really protected by law?
- Do all digital products have DRM protection?
- I want to make a copy of a film that is not DRM protected. May I?
- I want to make a copy of a film that has DRM protection. May I
- What are the exceptions to the anti-circumvention rules that enforce DRM?
4. How do I manage the copyright in my own work?
- What do I have to do to get a copyright?
- Should I register my copyright?
- Do I have to give my copyright to a publisher?
- If my publication agreement transfers the copyright to my publisher, can I still use my own work?
- What rights should I retain when I publish my work?
- Can someone help me understand the publication agreement?
5. What should I know about how copyright and plagiarism relate?
- How is copyright related to plagiarism?
- What if I just take an idea from another source but do not copy the words?
- I am writing an encyclopedia article and want to cull some facts from earlier articles on the topic. I will also quote a few passages from the same sources. Is there a copyright problem?
- Where can I learn more about plagiarism?
6. What do institutional repositories and open access have to do with me?
4 Responses to FAQs
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Recommended Readings- A State Law Approach to Preserving Fair Use in Academic Libraries"By David R. Hansen" Posted by klsmith to myblog contracts copyright on Thu Sep 15 2011 […]
- Canada's Orphan Works Regime: Unlocatable Copyright Owners and the Copyright Board"Article by Jeremy De Beers and Mario Bouchard form the Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal, Winter 2010" Posted by klsmith to myblog "orphan works" Canada copyright on Thu Sep 15 2011 […]
- Print or Perish: Authors' attitudes towards electronic-only publication of law journals"Duke Law Librarian Dick Danner and colleagues report on a study about how authors feel if their articles (in law journals) were no longer available on paper" Posted by klsmith to digital publication myblog on Mon Aug 08 2011 […]
- Copyright in the Age of YouTube | ABA Journal - Law News Now"Details how DMCA is rapidly become out-of-date as digital technology changes." Posted by klsmith to myblog digital technology copyright on Thu Jan 29 2009 […]
- A State Law Approach to Preserving Fair Use in Academic Libraries
As Duke University’s first Scholarly Communications Officer, Kevin Smith’s principal role is to teach and advise faculty, administrators and students about copyright, intellectual property licensing and scholarly publishing. 
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Our college is in the process of eliminating all VHS players on campus. From the research I have done it appears that we would be permitted to convert all our VHS tapes to DVD only if VHS players are totally obsolete. Is this correct, or can we convert to DVD since we are upgrading out equipment?
Thank you for your help.
[...] current issues are discussed. Other resources from the Scholarly Communications Office include an FAQ page as well as the University Policy on Copyright and Electronic Course [...]
What are the rules regarding the use of recorded music in video production? I have used “snippets” (15 seconds or less) of songs in my videos which are used for non-commercial purposes. Is that a violation of copyright law even if I credit the artist(s)?
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