Copyright law applies to nearly all creative and intellectual works.

• For a work to be protected by copyright law, it must be an idea that has been expressed and fixed in some sort of medium. The expression has to be original. To be considered original, there must be a “modicum of creativity” in how it has been expressed. In other words, once you create an original work, and fix it on paper, in clay, or on the drive of your computer, so that the work can be reproduced in some format, then the work is considered copyrightable. Therefore, copyright law protects a wide and diverse array of materials. Books, journals, photographs, works of visual art and sculpture, music, sound recordings, computer programs, websites, film, architectural drawings, choreography and many other materials are within the reach of copyright law. If you can see it, read it, hear it or watch it, it likely is captured by copyright.

Works are protected automatically, without copyright notice or registration.

• Copyright protectable works receive instant and automatic copyright protection at the time that they are created. U.S. law today does not require placing a notice of copyright on the work or registering the work with the U.S. Copyright Office. The law provides some important benefits if you do use the notice or register the work, but you are the copyright owner even without these formalities.

Owners hold specific rights, but not all rights. The law grants to copyright owners a series or bundle of specified rights:

• Reproduction of works
• Distribution of copies
• Making of derivative works
• Public performance and display of works
• In addition, certain works of visual art have moral rights regarding the name of the artist on the work, or preventing the destruction of them.
• Copyright owners may also have rights to prevent anyone from circumventing technological protection systems that control access to the works.

Author is the first copyright owner.

• As a general rule, the initial owner of the copyright is the person who does the creative work. If you wrote the book or took the photograph, you are the copyright owner.

Exceptions to the rule: creating a work on someone’s behalf.

• If you created the work as an employee, acting within the scope of your employment, then the copyright owner is your employer. In addition, if you are a freelancer, and where your contract specifies that you have created a work as a “work made for hire,” then the first owner of the copyright is the person that contracted you to create it.

Copyright can be transferred.

• Copyright owners can give or sell their rights to others. Even in cases of employment or where a copyright protected work was created as a “work made for hire,” copyright can be assigned or transferred back to the author. In addition, rights can be transferred temporarily by contract. These contracts are often called licensing agreements. A recipient of right by way of licensing agreement only has the ability to exercise those rights that are specified directly in the agreement. At the end of the life of the licensing agreement, those rights revert back to the copyright owner.

Copyright owners may allow public non-exclusive uses.

• A copyright owner may grant rights to the public to use a protected work. That grant could be a simple statement on the work explaining the allowed uses, or it may be a selection of a Creative Commons license. Similarly, the movement to make works "open access" or "open source" is a choice by the owner of rights to make works available to the public.

The public domain.

• Some works lack copyright protection, and they are freely available for use without the limits and conditions of copyright law. Copyright eventually expires, too. When a work lacks copyright protection or where copyright has expired, it is said that the work enters the public domain. Works produced by the U.S. government are not copyrightable. Copyright also does not protect facts, ideas, discoveries and methods.

Activities within fair use are not infringements.

• Fair use is not an infringement of copyright. It allows under certain conditions a person to use copyright protected material without permission. Fair use is an important right to use copyrighted works at the university. Fair use can allow us to clip, quote, scan, share and make many other common uses of protected works. But not everything is within fair use. Fair use depends on a reasoned and balanced application of four factors: the purpose of the use, the nature of the work used, the amount used and the effect of the use on the market for the original. For more information on how to apply the principles of fair use, refer to the Fair Use Checklist below.

Uses are also allowed with permission.

• If your use of a copyrighted work is not within one of the statutory exceptions, you may need to secure permission from the copyright owner. A non-exclusive permission does not need to be in writing, but a signed writing is almost always good practice. The permission may come directly from the copyright owner, or through its representative agent or copyright agency. For more information on securing permissions, see the “Procedures for Obtaining Permission” below.

U.S. copyright law applies to domestic and foreign works.

• In general, the same principles of copyright under the domestic law of the U.S. (or of another country) apply to a work, whether the work originated in the U.S. or elsewhere. Under major multinational treaties, many countries have agreed to give copyright protection to works from most other countries of the world. Because the U.S. has joined such treaties, you should apply U.S. copyright law to most works, regardless of their country of origin.

The above information has been adapted from Copyright Quick Guide by Dr. Kenneth Crews, via a Creative Commons Attribution License.

The Fair Use Checklist and variations on it have been widely used for many years to help educators, librarians, lawyers and many other users of copyrighted works determine whether their activities are within the limits of fair use under U.S. copyright law (Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act). The four factors form the structure of this checklist. Congress and courts have offered some insight into the specific meaning of the factors, and those interpretations are reflected in the details of this form.

This checklist is provided as a tool to assist you when undertaking a fair use analysis. The four factors listed in the Copyright Statute are only guidelines for making a determination as to whether a use is fair. Each factor should be given careful consideration in analyzing any specific use. There is no magic formula; an arithmetic approach to the application of the four factors should not be used. Depending on the specific facts of a case, it is possible that even if three of the factors would tend to favor a fair use finding, the fourth factor may be the most important one in that particular case, leading to a conclusion that the use may not be considered fair.

Click here to print or download a helpful Checklist For Fair Use to help you determine if your planned use of copyrighted content falls under the U.S. Fair Use guidelines. This checklist was adapted from a document created by Kenneth Crews, Director of Columbia University Libraries.

There is a great amount of information about the changing world of "fair use" policy. Below are some links to helpful information. However, if you're new to intellectual property and fair use discussions, or need to quickly determine your next step for using copyrighted content in your classroom, we recommend starting with the Fair Use Factor Checklist above.

• Reproduction of Copyrighted Works by Educators and Librarians (United States Copyright Office)
• Code of Best Practices for Fair Use in the Visual Arts (College Art Association)

Additionally, if you'd like to receive support on the following topics, below are some frequently asked questions as well as the best office to contact at SVA.

• How do I post content in my Canvas course? Contact OLT at 212.592.2313 or olt@sva.edu.
• How do I find out if the SVA Library has permission to use a specific copyrighted work? Contact the SVA Library at 212.592.2660 or contact them via this page.
• How do I get assistance requesting permission to use a copyrighted work? Contact the SVA Library at 212.592.2660 or contact them via this page.
• How do I request clarity on SVA's policies around intellectual property and any information found on this page? Contact Academic Affairs at 212.592.2580 or provost@sva.edu.

When you plan to use copyrighted content for educational purposes, either instructional or as part of your (non-commercial) assigned coursework, the first question to ask yourself is if you need to obtain permission to use the work. Refer to the checklist above to answer this question. If you determine that you should obtain permission, then use the following procedure:

1. Identify the owner and the rights needed.
2. Contact the owner and negotiate if payment is required.
3. Get your agreement in writing to ensure clarity and legal protection.

More detailed information can be found on this helpful page from Stanford University. Also, use the SVA support options listed above to help you navigate through this process.

This guide lists eight ways for faculty to use films in courses at SVA. Each option has a description of resources available through the Library and a brief explanation of relevant copyright principles. Faculty will decide which option is most appropriate based on their pedagogical needs.

Service: Library DVDs can be checked out to instructors for viewing in face-to-face classroom teaching. Faculty who wish to place DVDs on Reserve should fill out the Library Faculty Reserve Form.

Locations for Viewing: The DVDs may be viewed in your classroom.

Copyright: Section 110(1) of the Copyright Act of 1976 permits instructors to show entire films in the course of face-to-face classroom teaching provided that the DVD was lawfully made.

Service: The Library has access to the following streaming video collections:

• Art and Architecture in Video: 800 streaming video titles on art, artists, designers and architects
• Colourbox: Stock image source with hundreds of thousands of royalty-free photographs, vector images and videos.
• Kanopy: Streaming video platform with a Netflix-like experience and a broad selection of over 26,000 documentaries, feature films and training videos from thousands of producers including Criterion, PBS, HBO, etc.
• LinkedIn Learning: Thousands of video courses for software, creative and business skills
• Internet Archive: Non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites and more.
• Prelinger Archive: A collection of over 60,000 ‘ephemeral’ (advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur) films.
• VDB TV: An innovative digital digital distribution project which provides free, online streaming access to curated programs of video and media art.

Copyright: The Library has license agreements with the database providers to make these films available in streaming format for SVA faculty, staff and students.

Service: Faculty can determine whether a particular film or episode is available on a licensed free site, such as network websites, Hulu or YouTube.

Locations for Viewing: Faculty can place a link into Canvas so students will be able to view the film from any location with Internet access.

Copyright: These films and episodes are available in streaming format at no cost on licensed sites.

Service: Faculty can request that students access low-cost streaming options for streaming films and TV episodes from commercial services, such as Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, Hulu or Netflix.

Locations for Viewing: Faculty can place a link in Canvas so students will be able to view the film from any location with Internet access.

Copyright: These films and episodes are available in streaming format on licensed sites at a low cost to the student.

Service: Individual students can check out course reserve videos from the Circulation Desk and watch them in the SVA Library.

Locations for Viewing: Headphones and external DVD drives can be checked out from the Library Computer Lab.

Copyright: The Library purchases DVDs for the collection, and they may be loaned out for personal viewing under the first sale doctrine.

Service: Faculty can create and stream clips from DVDs in our collection.

Locations for Viewing: Faculty can place a link in Canvas so students will be able to view the film from any location with Internet access.

Copyright: The TEACH Act permits streaming reasonable and limited portions of a video for educational purposes. In addition, streaming limited portions of a film or tv show could qualify as fair use based on an analysis of the four fair use factors:

• The purpose and character of the use
• The nature of the copyrighted work
• The amount and substantiality used
• The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work

Service: If you own rights or have obtained rights to use a film, you can stream the film or video in its entirety. Some DVDs can be purchased with streaming rights, and those titles may also be streamed in their entirety. Please ask us if you would like the library to purchase a DVD with streaming rights.

Locations for Viewing: Faculty can place a link in Canvas so students will be able to view the film from any location with Internet access.

Copyright: In the three cases described above, you own the copyright or have permission or a license to stream the full work, so there would be no copyright issue.

Service: If rights to a film cannot be obtained through any of the methods listed above, in-library use is not practical, and showing clips will not meet the pedagogical needs of the faculty, a fair use evaluation for streaming the film in its entirety will be required.

Locations for Viewing: Faculty can place a link in Canvas so students will be able to view the film from any location with Internet access.

Copyright: There may be circumstances where a film or episode can be streamed in its entirety under the fair use doctrine. That determination has to be made on a case-by-case basis by weighing and balancing the four fair use factors.

Adapted from the Georgetown University Library's Guide to Using Films in Courses (2017).