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Handbook for Use of Copyrighted Materials: Frequently Asked Questions
About Use of Digital Materials
Please Note: these are intended to be simple examples of
fair use questions. Each fair use analysis is highly fact-dependent.
Your facts are likely to be different and will require additional analysis.
Please do not rely on these examples without considering these differences.
- May a professor scan or copy an article found in a printed
journal in the Library and post it on the class web site?
- May a professor copy an image from materials in the Library
and use it in a scholarly article the professor is writing for publication?
- May a student copy a portion of materials found on a website
and use the materials in a paper being submitted to a professor to satisfy
course requirements?
- May a professor copy complete journal articles located in
the ProQuest databases to his/her course documents page in BlackBoard?
- May a professor put a reasonable number of excerpts from
copyrighted videos or sound recordings on videotape, DVD or CD for use
in a classroom presentation?
- I would like to include art images and photographs on my Blackboard pages. Are there any image collections I can use without violating copyright?
- I am a faculty member and I have copied some musical selections from some of my own CDs and some from the Library that I would like my students to listen to. May I put those selections on Blackboard without violating copyright? The files are MP3s, is that OK?
- I would like to assign to my students a wide range of selected readings not included in one textbook or anthology. What are my options for making these readings available to them?
- I have put my PowerPoint lectures on Blackboard for use of students enrolled in my course, approximately 68 people. My lectures include images from various sources. Can I permit students to download the lectures and images and print them out? Some images are from my slides, and others were scanned from publications not my own. Am I violating any copyright laws?
- I would like to scan a photo of a manuscript page that was published in a
book and use it on my web site, which is accessible to the whole world. The
manuscript itself is very old and thus not copyrighted. I did not take the
photograph of the manuscript page, so I am not the rights holder of the
photo. Do I need to request permission?
-
Can I use in my dissertation, as an appendix, a document from an Arabic language book, published in Jordan in 1983? This excerpt makes up about 17 pages of the roughly 200 page publication. Would this be a permissible use under fair use or should I seek permission? The author of the book is deceased. It is not known if the publisher in Amman is still in business and, even if it is, obtaining permission might prove to be difficult if not impossible.
- May a professor scan or copy an article found in a printed
journal in the Library and post it on the class web site?
If the professor is acting spontaneously and has recently found the
article to be of relevance to the class (as opposed to planning well
in advance of the class to use the article), the professor may post
the article to a password-protected class web site for a limited amount
of time. If the professor wished to repeatedly use the article as reading
for the class, the professor should seek permission. See also FAQ #8: options for making readings available
- May a professor copy an image from materials in the Library
and use it in a scholarly article the professor is writing for publication?
No, the right to publish the image in a publication would be retained
by the copyright holder and permission should be sought. The professor
could use government materials which would be public domain materials
in this type of a publication. The professor could also use limited
quotes of copyrighted material with proper citation and attribution.
- May a student copy a portion of materials found on a website
and use the materials in a paper being submitted to a professor to satisfy
course requirements?
In the absence of an indication to the contrary, we should assume that
material on the web is subject to copyright. Use of a limited portion
of the copyrighted material for purposes of a paper for a class is a
purely educational use which would not interfere with the market for
the material. Appropriate attribution should be made to the source of
the material. If the student wishes to make a different use of the same
material or the paper which contains the material, a permission may
be required to support that use and a separate analysis conducted.
- May a professor copy complete journal articles located in
the ProQuest databases to his/her course documents page in BlackBoard?
NYU has a license to the ProQuest databases which allows NYU professors
to create "durable links" to articles within the databases. Therefore,
a professor need not "copy" these articles, but can simply link to them. For a instructions oh how link to the Libraries' many electronic resources, see Linking to Electronic Text, Images and Audio
- May a professor put a reasonable number of excerpts from copyrighted videos or sound recordings on videotape, DVD or CD for use
in a classroom presentation?
As long as the original video or sound recording was legally obtained
(e.g. the material is in the Library and unrestricted or the professor
purchased or rented the video or recording), the professor may use a
limited number of excerpts for reserve purposes.
The professor may not place those same excerpts on videotape, DVD or
CD for distribution to students for study outside of the classroom.
This use would be similar to creation of a coursepack and would require
that copyright permissions be obtained.
- I would like to include art images and photographs on my Blackboard pages. Are there any image collections I can use without violating copyright?
Access to a growing number of good-quality image databases has been licensed by NYU Libraries for NYU students and faculty. The terms of the licenses generally allow downloading and use of images in password-protected course websites (such as Blackboard) for review and study purposes. They may also be used for classroom instruction and related activities including handouts, presentations, research, and student assignments. Additional uses may be allowed under individual licenses, such as cropping, manipulating color, as long as appropriate credit lines are used. The following are currently licensed for use by NYU:
- I am a faculty member and I have copied some musical selections from some of my own CDs and some from the Library that I would like my students to listen to. May I put those selections on Blackboard without violating copyright? The files are MP3s, is that OK?
Copying musical selections into digital form (sometimes known as "ripping") can result in a virtually "perfect copy," which has a wide range of uses, not all of which are educational. Therefore, posting the MP3s "as is" on your Blackboard site without permission is a violation of copyright.
If the musical selections have been obtained from legally acquired recordings (your own or the Library's), you may make these files available to your students for one semester, as an electronic reserve, by means of a technology called "streaming." Streaming audio files cannot be readily downloaded, but students may listen to them on the Web by using any of a number of free audio "players", such as the RealOne player from Real Networks. In addition, because students must log in to your Blackboard course, you have limited the audience for these files to students enrolled in your course. If you plan to use the materials beyond one semester, permission to use them must be sought from the copyright owner. Contact the Avery Fisher Center (212-998-2540) for assistance with locating copyright owners.
For more information on how to prepare audio and video files for streaming,
contact Gloria Rohmann in the Avery Fisher Center.
- I am a faculty member and I would like to assign to my students a wide range of selected readings not included in one textbook or anthology. What are my options for making these readings available to them?
If you are planning in advance to assign certain materials for use by students in a course, the use cannot be considered "spontaneous" and, therefore, does not meet the fair use test which would permit you to distribute the materials in class. However, a number of options are available to you:
Coursepacks:
If you know in advance that the course will require a number of journal articles, individual book chapters or other materials and you want to require students to read or otherwise use such materials, you must create a coursepack. NYU has contracted with XanEdu, a division of ProQuest Information and Learning, to offer coursepack services in compliance with applicable copyright law. XanEdu has an extensive database of pre-cleared content available for immediate inclusion in your coursepack. Or, if your coursepack consists of material that is not contained in their database, XanEdu will research and contact the rights holders. (Currently XanEdu claims that it is able to obtain permission for an average of 95% of all requested material.) The NYU Bookcenters will manage the coursepack process for you (see contact information below).
Because students pay for Course Packs, scanning articles into E-reserve or Blackboard, as described below, may appear less expensive for students. But if you consider the cost of downloading and printing all of the readings, which students generally choose to do, the cost difference between the options is likely to be reduced.
To create a coursepack you must go through the NYU Bookstore, not a copy shop. If you arrange for creation of a coursepack by a copy shop, you will be in violation of NYU policies and you may not be entitled Call the NYU Bookstore Textbook Buyer at (212) 998-4671.
Print reserves:
Books that contain sections you have selected for class reading may be placed on Reserve in the Library. You may also put your personal photocopies of journal articles on reserve for one semester at a time. Submission forms for print reserves are available at http://library.nyu.edu/services/reserves_faculty.html
Scanning for E-reserves and Blackboard:
If the library or you already own the material, limited amounts of material can be scanned from print for inclusion on a Blackboard site or E-Reserves. As a general matter, print material converted to an electronic format (scanned) can be posted for class use for only one semester. If you are planning to use material for multiple semesters, even if the semesters are not sequential, you will probably need permission from the copyright holder to keep the material online. To request assistance with E-reserves, contact Kristina Rose .
Linking to licensed electronic text, images, etc.
If the material you assign to your students is available electronically through licenses already obtained by the Libraries--i.e. is available through the Libraries Website--links to these materials may be made for course readings either on E-Reserve or in Blackboard. See Linking to Electronic Text, Images and Audio for E-reserves and Blackboard http://library.nyu.edu/services/persistent.html for instructions on linking to individual articles within e-journals. (For more information on licensed image databases, see FAQ #3)
- I am a faculty member and I have put my PowerPoint lectures on Blackboard for use of students enrolled in my course, approximately 68 people. My lectures include images from various sources. Can I permit students to download the lectures and images and print them out? Some images are from my slides, and others were scanned from publications not my own. Am I violating any copyright laws?
As stated in the Copyright Policy contained in the NYU Faculty Handbook, faculty members are permitted to copyright their lecture notes, manuscripts, and other writings developed from their scholarly activities. Therefore, to the extent that the lecture consists of material originally created by you, you are entitled to assert the rights of the copyright owner of the material and make it available to your students.
Slides scanned from publications or otherwise acquired by you are not covered by this policy and you do not control the copyright to them. The use of these materials, whether in print or online, must either be licensed or analyzed under fair use principles. If you or the library acquired the slide, there may be a written document which details the permitted uses you may make of the slide. If the images or other material are used spontaneously in face-to-face teaching, permission need not be sought. If you choose to use materials repeatedly in this manner, permissions may need to be sought. Images and other copyrighted material should be properly credited.
If you include materials to which you do not hold copyright in an online course or Blackboard component of a course, you must consult the Fair Use Handbook to ensure that you are complying with the TEACH Act.
- I would like to scan a photo of a manuscript page that was published in a
book and use it on my web site, which is accessible to the whole world. The
manuscript itself is very old and thus not copyrighted. I did not take the
photograph of the manuscript page, so I am not the rights holder of the
photo. Do I need to request permission?
If the photograph in the book is protected by copyright, permission, at a
minimum, will need to be sought from the holder of the copyright to the
photograph. It may be that neither the publisher nor author of the book
actually owns the copyright, because most archives and museums permit only
limited reproductions and do not permit any third party to actually own the
copyright to a photograph of an image in their collection. In this case, the
archive or museum normally will require that you purchase a new image of the
item rather than give you permission to reproduce an existing image.
If the photograph is in the public domain (see FAQ #2), then the photograph
may be used without permission, though even in such cases it is standard
good practice to seek the archive’s or museum’s permission before
reproducing an image. In all cases, a citation to the archive or museum
should accompany any use of such images.
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Can I use in my dissertation, as an appendix, a document from an Arabic language book, published in Jordan in 1983. This excerpt makes up about 17 pages of the roughly 200 page publication. Would this be a permissible use under Fair Use principle or is publisher's permission required? The author of the book is deceased. It is not known if the publisher in Amman is still in business and, even if it is, obtaining permission might prove to be difficult if not impossible.
U.S. dissertations are distributed by UMI/Proquest as a business enterprise and the authors of dissertations receive royalties. Therefore, the use is not purely educational and permission should be sought. As in any case where obtaining copyright permission may be difficult due to challenging logistics, a good faith effort should be made to contact the copyright holder for permission. This may require doing research on the author's estate or the status of the publisher's business operations. If a good faith effort is made to obtain permission and the copyright holder cannot be reached or does not respond in a reasonable period of time depending upon the circumstances, the student or distributor of the dissertation may determine in the exercise of that person's business judgment to take the risk of proceeding without the necessary permission. The author should keep records of his/her attempts to contact the copyright holder, in case of any challenge.
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