Key terms
Copyright is a form of legal protection for authors of original academic and creative works. U.S. law grants copyright holders a bundle of exclusive rights, including rights to reproduce, distribute, and display works. Since 1978, copyright is automatically granted to the creator of a work at the moment of creation without any need to register.
Fair use is a part of U.S. copyright law that allows the use of copyrighted works without permission in certain circumstances, including criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. There's no set formula for determining it, but you must do a four factor fair use analysis when evaluating if you can reuse copyrighted material under fair use.
Works that are in the public domain are not covered by copyright and can be used freely with no limitations. Material in the public domain includes:
- U.S. works whose copyright has expired
- works where the creator has given up their copyright
- works created by the federal government
A license gives permission to use copyrighted work according to specific terms set by the copyright holder. Creative Commons licenses are one type of license that allow use in ways that generally encourage sharing.
Copyright at Tufts
The Tufts Intellectual Property policy provides guidance on the copyright status of works created at Tufts. It notes that:
- for faculty: "...ownership of copyrightable intellectual property shall remain with the faculty member"
- for students: "Students generally own the copyright to academic work they produce. Academic work can include class papers, theses, dissertations, artistic and musical works, and other creative works produced by University students."
Copyright permissions
You may need to request permission if you'd like to use someone else's copyrighted work in your own work. Seek permission unless one of these situations applies:
- you are the copyright holder
- the work is in the public domain
- it’s for face-to-face teaching
- it’s for an online use and covered by the TEACH Act
- there is a license, such as Creative Commons or a library subscription, that allows this reuse
- Fair use applies
See our Scholarly Publishing guide for more resources about determining a copyright holder of a work and asking for permission to reuse it.
Copyright for instructors
Find out more about using copyrighted material in your teaching on our Copyright for instructors page.
Copyright for authors
Find out more about your rights as an author on our Publishing support page.
Resources
For more information about copyright, see the Stanford Libraries Copyright Overview.
Use Cornell's Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States chart to help determine the copyright status of a particular work.