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APU Electronic Reserves: Copyright and Reserves

This guide was originally created by Sue Aspley.

Policies

INTRODUCTION
Faculty are responsible for complying with copyright law for their course reserve materials.  Items that fall under fair use as well as those that are not covered by copyright, as explained below, may be placed on reserve without obtaining copyright permission or paying copyright royalties.  The library will not place any items on either print or electronic reserve that it knows are not in compliance with copyright law.

For more detailed information on various points on copyright in higher education visit APU's Copyright Advisory site.

There are numerous guides to help you that are broken out by topics such as Fair Use, Public Domain, and Creative Commons for example.  Also a link is provided for the Fair Use Check List from Columbia University.

Our basic policy governing Reserves is based on the provisions of the United States Copyright Act of 1976.  Most especially Section 107 concerning Fair Use.

The following is the full text of the fair use Section 107 Limitations on exclusive rights:

"Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified in that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright."

Fair Use provides a limited exemption and it is very much factually specific. It in no ways provides for wholesale copying and distribution in classrooms.  Contrary to many myths education does not get a free pass on compliance with the copyright statutes.  By its nature Fair Use is ambiguous and abstract.  However, this is part of its beauty, this means it is also flexible and relevant in numerous, diverse situations.  Based on the decision by Justice Story in 1840 in Folsom v. Marsh we now use a four part balancing test to analyze on a case by case basis the factors to obtain a sense if this utilization of these materials in this context might arguably fall under the Fair Use exemption.  This is not finite, black or white.  However, this consideration of the four factors can often raise red flags.
The four factors are:

  1. The purpose and character of the use;
  2. The nature of the copyrighted work;
  3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.
  4. The effect of use on the potential market for or value of the work;

Further information on weighing the Fair Use factors is available at the Library's Copyright Advisory site.

The Fair Use Checklist is available.