Why is copying materials illegal

The lower court found five instances of infringement, 43 instances in which fair use applied, and 26 instances in which the publishers failed to demonstrate ownership of the copyright.

This time around, it found seven instances of infringement and 41 instances of fair use. There were only a few exceptions. Use of one chapter or less was held to favor fair use in all but two cases. Taking an excerpt consisting of less than a whole chapter was viewed more favorably under the third factor than use of a whole chapter.

The fourth factor favored fair use in a significant number of instances because the publisher had not made a digital license available for the work in question. Where such a license was available, either through the Copyright Clearance Center or the publisher, the fourth factor was presumed to disfavor fair use. Are there practical lessons from this case, which may yet have another bounce? Here are a few thoughts:.

When you apply the fair use factors to multimedia content, the analysis is likely to differ in some ways from the analysis of textual materials above. Though they have been developed primarily by user communities, and may not be fully accepted by copyright owners, the guides are another useful point of reference. The following are some general measures that, while not substituting for the four factor fair use test, will tend to assist a finding of fair use when copyrighted material is made available on a course website:.

For each item of copyrighted material you wish to use, make a good faith fair use determination. If you do not reasonably believe your proposed use passes the four factor test, you should obtain permission for the material or should not use it. Apart from fair use, the Copyright Act contains a special provision, Section 1 , that allows teachers to perform or display a copyrighted work, either live or recorded, "in the course of face-to-face teaching activities.

The only exception is that you may not use a film or videotape that you have reason to believe is an illegally made copy. Note, however, that this special classroom dispensation applies to performance and display only. It does not authorize making copies. Nor does it appear to enable you to put materials on your web page, even for course use, because it requires that the performance or display occur "in the course of face-to-face teaching.

The exemption is conditioned on a detailed set of requirements. If you cannot meet all of the TEACH Act requirements, you may be able to rely on fair use, if the statutory four factor test is satisfied, or you should obtain permission to use the copyrighted material in the video of your class session. There is no fixed rule on whether to affix a copyright notice on something that you write or create where Harvard owns the copyright.

This is the all-purpose copyright designation for any Harvard publication on paper, disk or other medium. Drafts may bear a copyright notice as well, particularly if they are widely distributed. It is also very useful to append to the copyright notice an indication of the unit at Harvard that administers the copyright, so that people who would like to use the work later will know where to turn for permission.

What happens if I receive a request from someone else to copy or quote from a work that is copyrighted by "President and Fellows of Harvard College"?

There is no central "permissions desk" at Harvard. The decision to grant or deny permission to copy or quote from works copyrighted by Harvard—and the decision whether to charge a fee for the permission—is made by the unit that published the work originally or is now responsible for it.

For example, the Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology can grant permission to quote from, or copy portions of, works published under its auspices, and the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid can grant permission for the brochures about Harvard that it distributes. It is not necessary to consult the Office of the General Counsel on this decision, but we will advise you on the mechanics of it, or on questions in particular cases, if that would be helpful to you.

Do I need permission to use or copy material that has already been copyrighted by Harvard? What provisions should I make when retaining an outside vendor to create a work for Harvard sometimes known as a "work for hire"?

An agreement for the preparation of material to be published by Harvard should always include a provision stating that Harvard will own the copyright. This avoids later disputes over whether Harvard or the individual creator owns the rights to the work. You can find model forms of Consulting Agreement with appropriate provisions regarding copyright on the Office of the General Counsel website.

You should also address this issue if you contract with students concerning creation of copyrighted works. If I am using a commercial computer program for my work, can I make a copy for a colleague, or a copy for my computer at home so that I can work there? No, unless the license allows it. A computer program that is copyrighted and virtually all commercially available programs are copyrighted can be used only according to the terms of the license that is purchased, and much off-the-shelf software is limited to use on one computer.

Unless the license specifically provides otherwise, such programs may not be copied, no matter how legitimate the need for its use elsewhere. The solution in most instances is to purchase a license that specifically authorizes the program to be used on more than one computer, either individually or through a server. Site licenses are generally less expensive than multiple purchases of individual programs, and home or laptop computers can be included if the vendor agrees.

Harvard University's firm policy is that no program is to be copied or used except as specifically allowed by the terms of its license. Those who violate this policy may be personally liable for infringement. We hope that this guide answers some of your questions about copyright and fair use. By its nature, this guide provides a general, and necessarily limited, discussion of various topics; it does not purport to give specific legal advice. The Office of the General Counsel advises Harvard and its faculty and staff on specific copyright questions and on other legal concerns that may arise in their work for the University.

Please let us know how we can be helpful to you. You can reach us at Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. Nation Enters. Michigan Document Services, Inc. Becker, F. Patton, F. Becker, Civ. To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.

Skip to main content. Main Menu Utility Menu Search. Why is copyright necessary? What can be copyrighted? What does copyright protect?

Who owns the copyright? Can I avoid infringement by crediting the source? Does a copyright expire when a work goes out of print? What happens to copyright in cyberspace? What should I be aware of when I create a website?

What about linking to material licensed by Harvard? What about linking to other material? Fair Use of Copyrighted Material What is "fair use"? What is the test for fair use? How does fair use apply to photocopying of course materials? We also work hard to protect artists and the music community from music theft. Copyright law protects the value of creative work. Federal law provides severe civil and criminal penalties for the unauthorized reproduction, distribution, rental or digital transmission of copyrighted sound recordings.

Title 17, United States Code, Sections and Making unauthorized copies of copyrighted music recordings is against the law and may subject you to civil and criminal liability. A civil lawsuit could hold you responsible for thousands of dollars in damages. You may find this surprising. These rights include the right to reproduce or distribute a copyrighted work.

In the file-sharing context, downloading or uploading substantial parts of a copyrighted work without authority constitutes an infringement. Penalties for copyright infringement include civil and criminal penalties. A court can, in its discretion, also assess costs and attorneys' fees. The more material you lift from the original, the less likely it is that your use will be considered a fair use. As a broad standard, never quote more than a few successive paragraphs from a book or article, take more than one chart or diagram, include an illustration or other artwork in a book or newsletter without the artist's permission, or quote more than one or two lines from a poem.

Contrary to what many people believe, there is no absolute word limit on fair use. For example, copying words from a work of words wouldn't be fair use. However, copying 2, words from a work of , words might be fair. It all depends on the circumstances. To preserve the free flow of information, authors are given more leeway when using material from factual works scholarly, technical, or scientific works than works of fancy, such as novels, poems, and plays.

The more important the material is to the original work, the less likely your use of it will be considered fair. In one famous case, The Nation magazine obtained a copy of Gerald Ford's memoirs before their publication.

In the magazine's article about the memoirs, only words from Ford's ,word manuscript were quoted verbatim. The Supreme Court ruled that this was not a fair use because the material quoted dealing with the Nixon pardon was the "heart of the book In determining whether your intended use of another author's protected work constitutes a fair use, apply the golden rule: Take from someone else only what you would not mind someone taking from you.

This will help, should you ever need to defend your actions in court. When it comes to fair use, unpublished works are inherently different from published works.

Publishing an author's unpublished work before he or she has authorized it infringes upon the author's right to decide when and whether the work will be made public. Some courts in the past held that fair use never applies to unpublished material. However, in Congress amended the fair use provision of the U. Copyright Act to make clear that the fact that a work is unpublished weighs against fair use, but is not determinative in and of itself.

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