Copyright and Fair Use: Copyright

What is Copyright? 

Copyright is a legal framework that grants creators exclusive rights to their original works, including literature, music, art, and more. These rights allow creators to control how their works are used, distributed, and reproduced.

What does this mean for you as a professor?

College instructors must be mindful of copyright law when using copyrighted materials in their teaching. This includes textbooks, articles, images, videos, and music. For example, if you want to make a copy of a novel (i.e., turn it into a PDF) for each person in your class, copyright law prohibits this unless the novel is in the public domain. 

Is a Work in the Public Domain?

• Works published before 1924 are in the public domain
• Works published after 1923 and before 1978 are protected for 95 years from the date of publication
• Works published after 1978 are protected for the author's life plus 70 years.