Copyright Information

As a member of the University’s faculty, staff, or student body, it is important that you become aware of the many issues surrounding copyright laws, including fair use and copyright infringement. There have been lots of changes and developments in this area, especially regarding to the World Wide Web and other technological and multimedia applications.

Faculty should be aware of “fair use” guidelines as they apply to material being used for educational purposes. Part of fair use is restricting the audience for the copyrighted material to just members of the class it is being used in. This is especially important when you are putting fair use material on a web site. Information Technology has created a Web-based tool that will help you restrict all or part of your site to help you fulfill fair use guidlines. Please read the Web Protection FAQ to see if this applies to you.

• The University of Alabama Copyright Statement
  Applies to using material copyrighted by the University and to using material copyrighted by others
• Reproduction of Copyrighted Works by Educators and Librarians
  Circular (PDF) from the US Copyright Office
• Copyright Basics
  Circular from the US Copyright Office
• Copyright & Intellectual Property Policies
  Compilation of information from the Association of Research Libraries
• 10 Big Myths about copyright explained
  by Brad Templeton. This has been on the Web for a long time, and is very well written and concise.
• Crash Course on Copyright
  from the paralegal.net website. Also includes plenty of good off-site links.
• General Information about Copyrights
  from the law firm of Oppedahl & Larson LLP
• The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998
  Summary (PDF) from the US Copyright Office
• The Digital Millennium Copyright Act
  Additional information and links from Educause Connect
• The Copyright web site
  Portal with extensive information on copyright law as it relates to technology
• Copyright on the Internet by Thomas G. Field, Jr.
• Software & Information Industry Association: SPA Anti-Piracy
  Provides both education and enforcement for professionals and the public.