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Copyright andImage ManagementGeorgia HarperOffice
of General Counsel
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Why Do We Have Copyright
Copyright affects everyone.
Copyright's Purpose: To Improve Society Through Advancement of Knowledge
- Balancing the rights of copyright owners with the rights of the public for access to and use of works
- Incentive to authors
- Limits on authors' rights to control and exploit works
- Balance achieves copyright's constitutional purpose
First, The Basic Scheme
The Law Gives Certain Rights to Copyright Owners
Fair Use is the "Play in the Joints"
Sometimes We Have to Ask for Permission
Sometimes We Are the Owners!
A Few Particulars
Original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression
Leaving facts and ideas free
for public use helps copyright achieve its purpose, if the public can
gain access to the work.
Today, it begins at the moment
of fixation in a tangible medium of expression and ends at the expiration
of 70 years after the death of the author. Different rules apply to older
works, however, and there are special rules for works-for-hire.
When copyright terms were shorter
and it required a definitive act to bring a work under federal protection,
copyright law's balance favored public access and use (the public domain)
more than it does today. These changes in the law evidence a strong shift
in that balance.
Owners have exclusive rights
to make copies, create derivative works, distribute, display and perform
works publicly. Certain artists have rights of integrity and attribution
(moral rights) in original works of art or limited edition prints (200
or fewer).
These exclusive rights are an important part of the way copyright law
achieves its purpose. Along with the term of protection, they provide
an incentive to authors to create.
If the law protects a work
you wish to use, you must ask for permission from the copyright owner
unless your planned use is covered by one of the law's exemptions, such
as fair use.
These limitations on copyright
owners' rights, and others not mentioned here, are critical to the achievement
of copyright's purpose. They are just as much a part of how copyright
law improves our society by increasing knowledge as the incentive to authors.
Both of these functions of fair use strongly support the achievement of copyright's purpose by permitting certain uses of works that do not significantly affect the owner's incentive. The fair use statute builds in to the fair use test ample consideration for the copyright owner's interests.
Libraries and their patrons have rights of fair use under Copyright Law.
- Section 107 of the Copyright Law includes illustrations of potential fair uses and describes four factors that must be taken into account in analyzing whether a use is fair.
Examples: Criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship and research
The four factors:
Character of the Use
Nature of the Material to be Copied
Amount and Importance of the Part Copied
Effect on Market for Permissions
Fair Use Is Not Just For Copies: It Applies to:
- Making copies of copyrighted works
- Making derivative works (for example, digitizing slides)
- Distributing works, including electronic distribution
- Displaying and performing works publicly
CONFU Educational Fair Use Guidelines
UT System Rules of Thumb
The Good Faith Fair Use Defense
If Fair Use Does Not Apply, Seek Permission
"This [case] presents us with a picture all too familiar in copyright litigation: a legal problem vexing in its difficulty, a dearth of squarely applicable precedents, a business setting so common that the dearth of precedents seems inexplicable, and an almost complete absence of guidance from the terms of the Copyright Act …"
Shapiro, Bernstein and Co., Inc. v. H.L. Green Co., Inc. (1963)
The Copyright Office Report recommends to Congress that it change the law by:
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