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NOTE: Information on this and other pages will soon be taken offline as this site will be closing. Click here for details. Copyright Quickguide! Fair-Use Permissions Information Copyright
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Frequently Asked Questions
Q: An article of which I am the author is about to appear in a national journal. In that article, I describe a method I developed related to medical or biological processes. Of course, the publisher is asking that I sign a transfer of copyright. I established a website so that interested scientists could learn about the model and download the model and program for free. I held the copyright to the model and program; the website is copyrighted by the IU Board of Trustees. The actual model and the program do not appear in the article that will be published. If I sign the transfer of copyright to the publisher, am I interfering with the copyrights in place on the website?
A: Determining whether you own or the university owns the copyright is a complicated question, largely addressed by the IU Intellectual Property Policy. Assuming you hold the copyright to a new work developed through your research, placing that work on a website that is part of an IU program or hosted on an IU server does not change the copyright ownership. When you transfer the copyright to the journal publisher, you are only able to transfer any copyrights you actually hold, which presumably include the model you mention. If the model is not part of the article that is the subject of the copyright transfer, then the model does not change hands. You continue to hold the copyright. Be careful: Your article probably includes some important and useful descriptions of the model. If you transfer that copyright to the publisher, technically, you may not be able to use those explanations and descriptions in another context. Be careful what you give away. Retain rights to use materials as you might reasonably expect to need them in the future. Negotiate and rewrite your publisher agreement to meet your needs!
INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR / LOGO DESIGN
Q: A graphic designer hired as an independent contractor has prepared a logo for a graphic design program. We want to use that logo in a brochure, but a different designer will be doing the design. May we use it or does the logo design belong to the independent contractor?
A: Generally, logos do not fall under copyright at all, but are protected by trademark law. Some designs, however, may be copyrightable. Assuming that the logo is copyrightable, the work of the independent contractor (IC) generally belongs to the IC, no matter how much you pay him or her. You may have an implied license to use the work in certain ways, but you are stretching your luck when you make new versions of it. You should arrange for the IC to transfer the copyright to the Trustees of IU by written, signed instrument. A handshake will not suffice. The work of an IC may also be “for hire,” but that possibility also requires a signed agreement.
INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR / PHOTOGRAPHS
Q: A photographer has been hired as an independent contractor to take photos of a special event at the school. May these photos be used in a brochure advertising the school?
A: The copyrights of works prepared by photographers hired as independent contractors belong to the photographer. Unless there is a written, signed agreement to the contrary, the copyrights to class portraits, photos of special events, photos of new buildings, all belong to the photographer. Our recommendation is to have the photographer (or any other independent contractor preparing potentially copyrightable works) assign the copyrights to the university in a written, signed instrument.
Q: Our department is publishing an article in a regional newsletter about a new product with adverse health consequences. We would like to use a photo of the product that we found on the internet. Would this be legal? If not, would it be legal to take our own picture of the product for use in the article?
A: There are two levels of copyright issues in your question. (1) The company presumably holds a copyright in the design of the package itself. Photographing and reproducing and distributing that photograph could be a copyright infringement. (2) Once someone takes a picture, that person presumably holds the copyright in the photograph. If you copy that picture, you may be violating the rights of the photographer along with the rights of the owner of the package design.
What can you do? One option is to get permission, but that may be difficult to get from the company you are apparently critiquing. Another option is to make your own photo, but that only takes care of problem #2. You may be within one or more of the exceptions to the rights of copyright owners. You can consider whether your use is within fair use. You will find assistance in making this determination in the Fair Use section of this website. You need to reach your own conclusion about fair use.
Section 113(c) of the Copyright Act might apply if you are making a picture of a “useful article” in some contexts, but that analysis also needs more information about your situation. Read Section 113(c) to make this determination.
Read More About Use of Photographs
IMAGES OF FAMOUS PEOPLE IN COMMERCIAL PRODUCT
Q: I am a student at IUPUI working on a project for a campus office. We are creating a product that is a personal portfolio page for students and faculty at IUPUI, but will also be sold to other universities as well. The students would like to name the project after a famous scientist and include his picture on the website and product packaging. Is the use of his persona within the confines of Fair Use, and are there any other copyright issues in using his image?
A: In some respects you have an issue of Fair Use. But you are also using the image and name of a real person, perhaps for commercial purposes, and to that extent you may need to clear the so-called “right of publicity” associated with his name and face for commercial uses. But most important, you mention that you are creating a project not merely for local use, but for marketing to other universities. I urge you to contact the Office of Technology Transfer, a unit of ARTI, to help with the licensing and marketing.
Q: As a professor, I frequently use works prepared in the past by my students in presentations and publications regarding curriculum development. I assumed under the umbrella of educational use, I could use these pieces freely. But I have never received permission in writing from these students, though most have given verbal permission. Should I be concerned about using these student works?
A: In general response to your inquiry, I would urge you to be highly respectful when using student work. In general, they own the copyrights to their works. Your use may be within Fair Use, but you mention that you do secure permission from them. Oral permission is sufficient, but a writing is better. In the future, you may want to use a form of the release available on our website, “Permission to Use Student Work.” Be sure also to give credit in the papers and presentations for the works of students, just as you would cite the source for a quotation or other insight from another author. Finally, some student works are “educational records” and are given significant privacy protections under federal law. There, too, you need permission to disclose them to others.
Q: Our department videotaped a guest lecturer with his consent. May we make copies of this videotape for deposit in other libraries?
A: In general, the textual content of their lectures belongs to the speakers. You can use the tapes within the limits of the consent. But the consent you obtained probably stated nothing about making copies for deposit in other libraries. You may have rights under fair use and under Section 108 of the Copyright Act. But I see a more serious issue. You might well find that you have the legal right to make the copies, but should you? Your guests allowed you to videotape the lectures for your library. They may not be pleased to have more copies in broader circulation. I would give a courtesy call to the speakers before I distributed copies of the tapes. For future guest lecturers, you may want to consider having them sign a copy of the “Appearance Release” available on our website to help prevent further problems in this area.
Q: It is my understanding that faculty may link to any publicly accessible website from within their courses without considering issues of fair use or obtaining permission. This is assuming that it’s a “nice” link, not forcing an external site into a frameset or trying to confuse the user in any way, etc. A large grant project on which we are working has a non-university web designer who is actually doing the design of the new course. During our weekly phone meetings this week, he mentioned that one of our faculty has been linking to someone else’s site to have students have access to useful information. Our designer contends that since the site’s use policy states that it is for personal, non-commercial use and that we have a course for which students will pay an enrollment or registration fee, that we must negotiate with the site’s owner and pay a license fee in order to link to the site from within our course. If he is accurate, this certainly changes the way most faculty set up and deliver a course. Is he correct?
A: The kind of linking you mention is usually perfectly legal under copyright law. If you are still concerned, I would just send a glowing complimentary letter to the website owner letting him or her know that the site is great and useful and implicitly inviting any objections. Besides, the owner would like to know that the site is useful. More important: When you pay an outsider to develop the website, that person may well own the copyright to your site under the current law. Be sure to have him or her sign an explicit agreement transferring all of the work to the university.
Page Last Updated: 8/7/03
The Copyright Management Center is not part of University Counsel and is not legal counsel to the university or to any members of the university community. A mission of the CMC is to provide information and education services to help members of the community better address their needs. The information received from the CMC is not legal advice. Individuals and organizations should consult their own attorneys.
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