Copyright and
Libel Primer for Web and Print Publishers
Why should I care?
Computers and the Internet have changed everything. Publishing used to
be limited to a select few who had sufficient resources. Now,
technology has made everyone a potential publisher. Copyright law,
which has always been complex, has become bewildering in an electronic
environment. It has never been easier to copy or incorporate other
people's work. It has never been easier to make yourself and the
University vulnerable to a lawsuit.[1]
Copyright Law
Since 1978, copyright protection occurs at the moment of creation, and
protects the form of expression (word, images, music) rather than the
ideas or facts represented. A copyright notice or registration is not
required. Lack of a copyright
notice does not mean that something can be freely reproduced.[2]
I. Using Material from the Internet
Technology may
result in a loss of control over reproduction of materials for authors
in the future. However, copyright law has not yet sufficiently
addressed electronic communication. The same laws that were made for
printed publications, art, music and film now apply to material on the
Internet. Words, images, page design and even HTML code are protected
from the moment of creation, regardless of whether or not a copyright
notice appears. The majority of information on the World Wide Web is
not in the public domain. Theoretically, even text from e-mails and
electronic bulletin boards may not be reproduced without
permission from the author.[3]
Most Web
sites list the e-mail address of a contact person, making it relatively
easy to request permission to reproduce images or text.
When in doubt,
request permission.
II. Fair Use
● Fair Use allows you to reproduce
portions of someone else's work in certain situations. No single factor
can determine Fair Use—educational use alone is not enough—there is a
lot of gray area. Four factors are considered:
- Is it educational in nature?
- Is it not-for-profit?
- What percent of the original is used?
- What will the effect of your use be upon the potential market
value of the work?[4]
● Fair Use
is designed to enable people to use small amounts of the work of others
for review, critique, or to support their arguments. Depending on the
size of the work being copied from, it's a good idea to avoid quoting
more than two paragraphs, or quoting so frequently that the quoted
information predominates. It is almost always outside the bounds of
Fair Use to reproduce all or most of anything.[5]
● There ARE specific prohibitions around
making multiple copies of a work to use in an educational setting:
- Copies may not be used to create/replace anthologies or
collected works.
- Consumable publications such as workbooks and standardized tests
may not be reproduced without permission.
- Unauthorized copying cannot be used in place of the purchase of
books and periodicals.
- The same teacher cannot copy the same item term after term
without permission.
● Situations in which copying for
academic purposes IS allowed generally share the following
characteristics: SPONTANEITY—BREVITY—SINGULARITY. The situation should
share all of these characteristics.
- Spontaneity: If a teacher is inspired to use something as a
teaching tool, and there isn't enough time to request permission.
- Brevity: If the excerpt copied is no longer than 1000 words or
10 percent of the work, whichever is shorter, or if the complete work
is less than 2500 words.
- Singularity: One course use, one work per author, etc.[6]
When in doubt,
request permission.
III. Public Domain
● Works and images that are in the public
domain may be freely copied. Such works include
- works that never had copyright protection;
- works whose term of copyright protection has expired;
- works created by the U.S. government.
Because of
the complicated history of copyright law, it has become extremely hard
to ascertain whether or not a work is in the public domain. The fact
that the author is deceased or the work is out of print does not
guarantee that a work is in the public domain, nor does the lack of a
copyright notice.[7]
Most Extension-produced material is not in the public domain,
but rather is copyright-protected by authors or institutions.
When in doubt,
request permission.
IV. Requesting Permission
The good news is that e-mail has made
it faster and easier to request and receive permission from individuals
and institutions, if you can find the appropriate person to e-mail. If
they have a Web site, chances are they list staff contacts and conduct
a lot of business electronically. You can save time by including all of
the elements on The University of Texas System's online sample of a
permission request letter, available at
http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/
permmm.htm .
The Copyright Clearance Center
specializes in obtaining permissions, particularly for academic use.
They charge a nominal fee, plus whatever royalty the copyright owner
charges. The center has a catalog of preauthorizeds, making the
permissions process nearly instantaneous. Go to their Web site at
http://www.copyright.com/ and select
"Academic—Higher Education."
Libel and
Invasion of Privacy
Each state defines
and applies laws relating to libel and invasion of privacy differently.
Typically publishers were sued for libel and invasion of privacy in the
state of publication/distribution. Since the Internet enables material
to be published everywhere at once, we are entering murky waters
indeed.
The Internet has made it fast,
easy, and cheap to publish. People post Web pages without the
consideration and peer review that typically occurs with print
material. And depending on who is publishing the material on what
server, with whose equipment, and in what capacity, both the University
and the person publishing the Web page could very well be liable.[8]
I. Libel: publishing defamatory material or anything that
damages the reputation of a person or entity. Lack of knowledge or
intent is not a sufficient defense—for instance, a writer who uses a
word without understanding the meaning it may have to a particular
audience would still be liable.[9]
The University of Texas has an
excellent Libel Checklist that will analyze a situation for you:
http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/libelfrm.htm
II. Invasion of privacy:
-
disclosing intimate or private details
about someone;
-
printing false statements or representing
a person in a false light;
-
appropriating a person's likeness (e.g.
photo) or name without permission, particularly for commercial gain;
-
intruding unreasonably and intentionally upon a person's
seclusion (e.g. trespass, surveillance).
In any case, providing the
identity of a private individual, unless in a public setting, is a
sensitive matter (less so for a public figure). All of the above are
more serious if the material is embarrassing, offensive and/or not
inherently of public concern.[10]
Take great care when publishing
information in newsletters or on Web pages about volunteers and other
individuals. Be mindful of their right to privacy and potential libel
issues. To be safe, get permission to publish a name or picture in
writing.
Plagiarism
Non-copyrighted material still needs to be credited appropriately. If
you use someone else's ideas, design, graphics, data, or words, even if
it is public domain material, without crediting the source, you are
representing someone else's material as your own. This is plagiarism.
Hamilton
College has an excellent Web page on avoiding plagiarism:
http://www.hamilton.edu/academic/Resource/WC/
AvoidingPlagiarism.html
A briefer
overview can be found at this Barnard College site:
http://www.econ.barnard.columbia.edu/FAQs/plagiarism.html
Citation
Good citation practices
The
purpose of citation is to credit the scholarship of others, and to
allow the reader to verify, ascertain the credibility of, and find out
more about the information in question. Any idea, image, or expression
that is not your original work should be cited. Direct quotations
should be enclosed in quotation marks with a footnote or in-text
reference. Avoid quoting significant amounts of text without
permission.
As the Barnard College Web page on plagiarism points out, good
citation not only acknowledges the work of others, but it clarifies and
highlights which work is your own. "The point of good citation practice
is to direct the reader's attention to where you have advanced the
argument."[11]
About paraphrasing: the author of the Barnard page goes
on to explain that "a more subtle form of plagiarism is footnoted
paraphrase." Such a practice, according to Barnard, leaves it unclear
which ideas come from the author and which from the cited source.
Paraphrased passages should be defined with an introduction such as "Rowling explains that this event is..." Alternatively, you can
footnote the paraphrased passage and identify it as such in the
footnote, e.g. "This sentence/paragraph paraphrases Rowling's ideas on
wizardry, p 231."[12]
Citation
Styles
The
citation style you should use depends on whether you are creating
footnotes or a bibliography, whether you are creating a county
newsletter, an article for a refereed journal, a fact sheet for
low-income families, a workshop handout, or a federal report. The
appropriate citation style could be AP, APA, CMS, GPO or something
else, depending on the document and the audience. Contact the
publications editor for an appropriate citation style for your
publication.
When researching and writing, be sure to keep a record of the
source of anything that isn't your own original expression or idea.
Include the author's full name, the name of the work, the name of any
larger work in which the work appears, (e.g. the anthology that a story
appears in, or the journal that an article appears in), the year
published, the publisher, the publisher's city and state, the total
number of pages in the work, and the page(s) from which the information
was taken. This will ensure that you have enough information for any
citation style.
This handout was
developed by Kyle McCaskill, University of Maine Cooperative Extension
communications leader/editor, for staff training purposes. It is not
intended to be a definitive treatment of the topics discussed. June
2002.
Footnotes:
[2] Questions and Answers on Copyright For The Campus Community
(Oberlin, OH: National Association of College Stores, Inc., and The
Association of American Publishers, 1991) pp 2-3.
[5] The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th ed. (Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 1993) p 146.
[6] Questions and Answers, pp 16-17.
[9] Words into Type, 3rd ed. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice
Hall, 1974), p 54.
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