Copyright Principles in Action

Introduction

Welcome to the University of Oregon's website for copyright help. While you may ultimately need to check with one or more of the on-campus resources listed herein, this primer should sketch answers to most of your questions or at least help you focus your concerns about copyright matters.

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There are three ways to search this site for information, and access is available from the bottom of any page:

• The Table of Contents groups topics by subject and serves as a site map in that it lists all the available pages.
• The Index lists topics alphabetically and is useful if you already have a subject area in mind. It is somewhat more specific than the Table of Contents and allows you to jump directly to an issue.
• Frequently Asked Questions, as the name implies, summarizes some of the most often asked questions regarding copyright and intellectual property. This section also has links back to the areas in the main text that pertain to the particular question.

If you wish to familiarize yourself with copyright concepts and issues, you should read all of section I and section III. Sections II and IV through XIV cover copyright ownership issues in some detail and infringement/fair use issues in specific contexts, respectively.

In general, the material is divided into two themes:

(1) ownership of copyrights

(2) the use ("fair" or otherwise) of works copyrighted by someone else

Authors and developers of creative works should be attentive to both themes: resolution of ownership problems is much easier on everyone when sorted out "up-front"; and liability for infringement can be a serious burden (even one for which State indemnification may not be available). Users of copyrighted material, especially for instructional purposes, are often misinformed about fair use and can almost always benefit from a better understanding of this concept.

There are also Appendices (see Table of Contents) which provide likely answers to brief scenarios typical of higher education, statutory and regulatory and policy provisions, a flowchart or checklist to assist in determining ownership of copyrights, and briefs of selected copyright cases.

This site should have enough detail and cogency to offer you guidance in dealing with your copyright issues. However, it is impossible to exhaustively describe and deal with all the possible uses of copyrighted materials or all the possible contexts and permutations in which copyrightable works are created and used. Thus, this material should be viewed only as providing basic principles and suggestions of proper outcomes in illustrative situations and not as legal advice. If a novel or unusually complex situation arises or if a contentious challenge is presented, you should seek explicit advice based on your particular facts from the appropriate University of Oregon administrative office.

The Office of Technology Transfer receives the disclosures of inventions or the creation of educational or professional materials. It also assists in the registration of copyrights and trademarks, the filing of patent applications, and the determination of who owns intellectual property. Further, it handles the commercialization/licensing of intellectual property and the allocation of net royalties received.

The Copyright Clearance Office of the U.O. Printing Department assesses fair use and obtains permissions (where necessary) from copyright holders for persons creating course packets for their classes.

The Information Technology staff of the U.O. Libraries can assist in determining fair use for many electronic, World Wide Web, or inter-library loan materials.

The Knight Library Media Center can be helpful with regard to audio-visual and video taped materials.

University Computing can advise on World Wide Web copyright issues and software licensing issues.

The New Media Center has expertise in developing multi-media products and is very sensitive to fair use and copyright infringement issues. It also can structure development agreements to sort out intellectual property ownership procedures.

The Office of General Counsel is available to all of these units to advise on intellectual property law, to draft or review any necessary documents, to handle outside complaints, and to analyze novel copyright questions.