Copyright & Fair Use
Copyright protects original creations from being used by others without permission.
Almost everything in print or online is protected by copyright. This includes books, articles, photographs, artwork, videos, music and more. Copyrights are given automatically in the US and give the creator exclusive rights to decide if or how others may use or distribute their works.
The information here is a brief overview. For more information on copyright, refer to:
Using Copyrighted Works
You will frequently refer to copyrighted works while doing scholarly research. Keep the following in mind to avoid copyright infringement.
Avoid Plagiarism
Always cite someone else’s work when you refer to it so that you aren’t seen as taking credit for their ideas. Taking credit for someone else’s work is plagiarism. Learn more plagiarism and academic integrity at UNE. To help you understand and format citations, we have guides with detailed examples for the major citation styles.
Fair Use
There are times when you are allowed to reproduce a portion of copyrighted materials without express permission, including for personal and educational use. This is known as fair use. Â Use our Fair Use Checklist [PDF] to help decide if your use is fair. You still need to cite the work wherever you incorporate it into your own.
Sharing Resources
Posting or sharing copyrighted materials, like an article PDF, with others or online could be copyright infringement or a violation of our subscription licenses. To avoid infringement you can share a link to the item’s original source rather than sending a copy or PDF.
Ask for Permission
If you aren’t sure whether a work is copyrighted, assume that it is. If you don’t think you have a case for fair use, contact the work’s creator to request permission to use it.
How to find a copyright holder .
The Public Domain
Creators can choose to give up their copyright so their work can be used by anyone in whatever way they wish. This places the work in the public domain. Works in the public domain will indicate this with a phrase or license mark such as those offered by Creative Commons.
Older works with expired copyrights are also in the public domain. Use this chart by Peter Hirtle at Cornell University to help determine if older works are in the public domain.
Even if the work is in the public domain, you still need to cite so that it is clear that you aren’t claiming to have created the work yourself.
Get Help
Copyright is complex and the penalties for infringement are severe!
