Copyright on Campus

Listed here are various tools and charts developed by libraries and copyright scholars that can help determine whether an item is protected by copyright and how copyrighted works can legally be used in teaching or in the creation of new works.

Below is a list of major copyright legislation in the United States with links to the full text. There have been other enactments that have amended portions of the Copyright Act, including the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, that are not listed below but are incorporated and referenced within the larger U.S. Copyright Act.

The Copyright Act grants creators protection in their works by bestowing upon them a bundle of exclusive rights with respect to their works: 

• The right to reproduce/copy the work
• The right to prepare derivative works (e.g. translations)
• The right to distribute copies of the work by sale or lease or other transfer of ownership
• The right to publicly perform the work
• The right to publicly display the work
• The right to perform audio works publicly by digital means

Under the current law, copyright protection is automatic and begins the moment any “original work of authorship is fixed in a tangible medium of expression.” See the chart below for the types of original works that are protected by copyright law. Copyright protection does not require any form of copyright notice or registration with the U.S. Copyright Office, although affixing a notice and registering a work enhances protection of the owner’s rights. Further, registration within 90 days of publication/creation is a prerequisite to a claim for damages in the event of infringement. There is a nominal fee for registration, and a copy of the work must be deposited with the Copyright Office.

Ordinarily, a claim for copyright infringement arises when an encroachment upon one or more of the following exclusive rights belonging to the author or creator occurs. These exclusive rights, however, are subject to certain exceptions set out in the Copyright Act. Some of these exceptions are: Fair Use (§107 of the Copyright Act), preservation by libraries and archives (§ 108 of the Copyright Act), and performance and display of works in an educational setting (§110 of the Copyright Act). Please visit the other sections of this Guide to learn more about these and other exceptions.

Not all types of works are entitled to copyright protection. See the (nonexhaustive) table below:

(adapted in part from the U.S. Copyright Office "Copyright Basics" circular)

Copyright protection does not last forever. For new works created in the United States, protection begins with creation of the work and lasts 70 years after the date of creation. At that time, the work passes into the public domain. For older works created in the United States, cessation of copyright protection and passage into the public domain depends on a variety of factors. The chart below provides some basic guidelines for determining the copyright statuts of works created in the United States. See the Cornell Public Domain Chart or the Public Domain tab of this guide for more information.