The FIU Libraries' Course Reserves service complies with the Copyright Law of the United States, Title 17 of the U.S. Code. This guide does not represent or imply legal advice or counsel.

Fair Use of Copyrighted Materials
Section 106 of the U. S. Copyright Law determines copyright owner exclusive rights, including the reproduction of copyrighted works and the distribution of copies of the copyrighted works to the public. The Doctrine of Fair Use defines the copyright owner exclusive rights limitations: "Fair use of a copyrighted work . . . including reproduction . . . 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 Is Not Free Use
To use copyrighted materials for Course Reserves the material(s) must be used for nonprofit reasons such as education and research. Using small portions of the material for referrals is generally allowed. However, if the copyright owner disallows use then Course Reserves must comply.

Fair Use for Portion Control according to Media Type

Motion Media -- 10 percent or 3 minutes, whichever is less

Text -- 10 percent or 1,000 words, whichever is less

Music -- Maximum of 30 seconds, or 10 percent of individually copyrighted musical composition, or 10 percent of the composition embodied on a sound recording, whichever is less.

Illustrations and Photographs -- No use of entire works; in any one multimedia program, no more than 5 works from any one artist or photographer, or from a collective work no more than 10 percent or 15 images, whichever is less.

Numerical Data Sets -- Up to 10 percent or 2,500 fields or cell entries, whichever is less.

Additional Information
For further information, please refer to the American Library Association's Copyright information, the ARL Copyright Information, Stanford University Copyright Info, or the U.S. Copyright Office

Q & A

I have never worried about copyright compliance before. Why now? The FIU Libraries must comply with the U.S Copyright Law.

What kinds of materials can I place on Reserve that will be copyright compliant? Most books can be placed on print (non-PDF) reserve. Photocopies of articles either in print or PDF format and multimedia materials must comply with the Copyright Law.

What kinds of materials can I place on Reserve that do not require copyright compliance? Non-copyrighted works, such as study guides and past exams. Some government documents may not be copyrighted, so verify this from a government documents librarian if you are unsure.

Do I have to seek permission from the publishers? No, the Library will assume this responsibility. You will be notified if permission is not granted.

What happens if the material I need does not receive permission to be used? Then the Library is unable to place this material on Reserve. The Library must comply.

Will I be notified if the copyright use is denied? Yes, you will be notified and your material will be returned.

When should I submit materials for placement on Reserve? 30 to 45 days before the semester begins. Please allow about 2 weeks for your materials to be processed and placed on Reserve. You may submit materials at any time during the semester.

If I intend to keep a material on Reserve every semester, do I need to resubmit this equest each semester? Yes, in accordance with the Copyright Law all Reserve materials must be renewed for each semester. An electronic notice will be sent to you as a reminder.

What type of materials can be placed on Electronic Reserves? Due to copyright restrictions and other technical considerations, only articles published in journals, magazines, newspapers, and most book chapters are eligible for this service.

Contact
For further assistance, please contact Douglas Hasty, at 305-348-2459, Green Library, University Park, or Steve Switzer, at 305-919-5719, Biscayne Bay Library

This page is maintained by Douglas Hasty and was updated 09/14/2005 13:07:02 09/16/2004 12:27:51 09/16/2004 12:27:26 09/16/2004 12:27:10 09/16/2004 12:25:40 09/16/2004 12:24:35 Thursday, September 16, 2004 11:55:38
http://www.fiu.edu/~hastyd/copyright_REVISED.html