If you are planning to distribute copyrighted material via Blackboard, a coursepak, or play copyrighted material in a synchronous video class, you need to get copyright clearance from the owner or publisher of the material. This information about Copyright and Copywrong from the ODU Libraries will help you determine what is and isn’t copyrighted.

• For copyright authorization, use the Copyright Permission form to obtain clearance from the owner of the material.

If a work is in tangible form it is considered copyrighted. According to the Copyright Act, works that can be copyrighted include:

• Literary works
• Photographic, pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works
• Films and other audiovisual works
• Sound recordings
• Musical works
• Dramatic works
• Choreographic and pantomime works

Copyright is secured automatically when the work is created; and a work is created when it is fixed in a copy or phono-record for the first time.

You should always assume that any materials found on the Internet are copyrighted, unless stated otherwise. Do not assume that the material is not copyrighted just because you do not see a copyright notice. Always obtain permission (in writing) from the copyright holder before using their work on your course website.
If you are unable to obtain permission, do not use copyrighted materials unless the Fair Use Doctrine can be applied when using a portion of that material.

Fair use is a defense to a claim of copyright infringement.  Fair use is a defense to copying another person’s work for academic and research purposes. 

• There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission. 
• Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission.

The ability to successfully rely on the fair use defense depends on the underlying facts of each case.  To determine whether your copying constitutes a fair use, courts apply a four-part test considering the:

FAIR USE TEST

Favoring Fair Use	Opposing Fair Use
PURPOSE
Teaching (multiple copies for classroom use) Research/Scholarship Criticism/Comment News reporting Transformative/Productive Use - to what degree the new work is transformed into something different from the original Access restricted to instructor and students Parody	Commercial use Profit from use Entertainment
NATURE
Published Work Factual/Non-fiction Important to educational objectives	Unpublished Work Work of a creative nature (art. music, novels, plays, films) Fiction
AMOUNT (substantiality of the portion used in relation to the work as a whole)
Small quantity Portion is not central to entire work Appropriate amount for educational purpose	Large portion or whole work Portion is central to the entire work
EFFECT (effect of the use on the potential market for or value of the work)
Use has purchased/lawfully acquired a copy of the original work Single copy or few copies made No significant effect on potential market for work	Permission/Licensing of work is easily available Many copies made Significantly impairs potential market (or could replace the copyrighted work in market) Repeated or long-term use Made available on the web or a public forum

For assistance with copyright and software issues, please contact Susan Boze at sboze@odu.edu, 683-3172. Keep in mind that it typically takes several weeks to identify copyright permission and software installation needs. So, please begin this process early.

References:
http://web.odu.edu/ao/research/services/copyright management.html

Other copyright references:

• http://mason.gmu.edu/~montecin/copyright-internet.htm
• http://www.ucet.ufl.edu/tools/teachingwithtech/cfu10mythscopyright.shtml
• http://www.ucet.ufl.edu/tools/teachingwithtech/cfucopyright&webteach.shtml
• http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html
• http://teach.ucf.edu/nowwhat/onlineissues/introcopyright.html
• http://www.ucet.ufl.edu/tools/teachingwithtech/cfucopyrightinfo.shtml
• http://www.ucet.ufl.edu/tools/teachingwithtech/cfudigitalmillenniumcopyright.shtml