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Library Information

Copyright
“Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U. S. Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works.” 
 
  • If you reproduce, republish or redistribute something produced by someone else without the copyright holder’s permission, there’s a good chance that you are violating copyright law. 
  • Publicly available information such as material posted on the Internet is not necessarily free from copyright protection. 
  • If using a copyrighted work for an extended period of time or frequently pulling information from the same source, you or our library should purchase the item.  Library owned material can be used as often as needed for classroom/online teaching
  • Copyright infringement can result in fines and jail time. 
  • The Copyright Act includes specific provisions for the use of copyright-protected materials by academic institutions.

Learn more @ Copyright.gov

Review Mercy College of Ohio's Copyright Policy below.

For Faculty/Staff or if you would like more in depth information on copyright please check out the Faculty Resources Guide Copyright tab.

Fair Use 

Fair use allows unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Consider the following four factors in evaluating a question of fair use:
  • Purpose and character of the use, including whether the use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes
  • Nature of the copyrighted work
  • Amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
  • Effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work

​Review Fair Use @ copyright.gov/fair-use/

For Faculty/Staff or if you would like more in depth information on fair use please check out the Faculty Resources Guide Fair Use tab.