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Rights of Copyright Owner

The Copyright Act gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following:

  • Reproduce (make copies of) the work;
  • Make derivative works based on the work;
  • Distribute copies to the public;
  • Perform the work publicly;
  • Display the work publicly.

In the case of works made for hire, the employer and not the employee is considered to be the author. Copyright law defines a “work made for hire” as a:

  • Work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment; or
  • Work specially ordered or commissioned for use as a:

    • Contribution to a collective work
    • Part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work
    • Translation
    • Supplementary work
    • Compilation
    • Instructional text
    • Test
    • Answer material for a test
    • Atlas

Faculty must obtain copyright permission when making multiple copies of:

  • Music, unless using a copy of a purchased work during an emergency where the music is needed immediately (such as a performance), but another original copy must be purchased after emergency situation;
  • Consumable materials (i.e. workbooks, standardized tests and lab manuals;
  • A work (i.e. article, poem, essay, etc.) for classroom use which is known to have been copied for use in another course at the same institution;
  • Any time a work is used, even if permission has been given in the past for a different class.