UTEP Library Research Guides: ARTG 3316 Graphic Design 3: Copyright Law in the Visual Arts

Copyright Law of the United States of America

Copyright Law of the United States of America
Circular 92. Copyright.gov. Copyright Law of the United States of America and Related Laws Contained in Title 17 of the United States Code
Copyright Registration for Pictorial, Graphic, and Sculptural Works.
(The complete) Copyright Law of the United States
U.S. Copyright Office, Library of Congress. (2015).Copyright Law of the United States, title 17, U. S. Code.

How do I obtain permission to use something that’s copyrighted?

Procedures for Securing Permission
Center for Digital Research and Scholarship, Columbia University Libraries. (2015). Asking For Permission

Creative Commons

Creative Commons .Org
Quote from Creative Commons' About page:

Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools.

Our free, easy-to-use copyright licenses provide a simple, standardized way to give the public permission to share and use your creative work — on conditions of your choice. CC licenses let you easily change your copyright terms from the default of “all rights reserved” to “some rights reserved.”

Creative Commons licenses are not an alternative to copyright. They work alongside copyright and enable you to modify your copyright terms to best suit your needs.

What Is Not Protected by Copyright?

Several categories of material are generally not eligible for federal copyright protection. These include among others:

• works that have not been fixed in a tangible form of expression (for example, choreographic works that have not been notated or recorded, or improvisational speeches or performances that have not been written or recorded)

• titles, names, short phrases, and slogans; familiar symbols or designs; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or coloring; mere listings of ingredients or contents

• ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries, or devices, as distinguished from a description, explanation, or illustration

• works consisting entirely of information that is common property and containing no original authorship (for example: standard calendars, height and weight charts, tape measures and rulers, and lists or tables taken from public documents or other common sources)

SOURCE

Fair Use

These resources offer general interpretations of copyright law and fair use. Not to be used as legal advice. It seems that there are two ways to make certain you are following fair use: one is through a court ruling in your favor, the other is doing your best to follow fair use and not get sued.

How can I know it’s Fair Use?
Cornell University Copyright Information Center. (2015). Fair Use Checklist.
Strategies for Fair Use.
The OWL. (2014). Strategies for Fair Use.
Fair Use Evaluator.
An interactive tool to help you determine the "fairness" of a use under the U.S. Copyright Code; organize your info; create a PDF file in case you need to defend your use of materials.
Copyright Genie
An interactive tool for "information for educators & others to better understand the duration of copyright for unpublished works, and for works first published in the U.S. or simultaneously in the U.S. and abroad."
Measuring Fair Use: The Four Factors.
Stanford University Libraries, Copyright & Fair Use. (2015). Measuring Fair Use: The Four Factors:

1. the purpose and character of your use
2. the nature of the copyrighted work
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion taken, and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market.
Copyright and Fair Use
General info on copyright, fair use.
Uses That Are Generally Fair Uses
"Subject to some general limitations ...the following types of uses are usually deemed fair uses:

Criticism and comment -- for example, quoting or excerpting a work in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment.
News reporting -- for example, summarizing an address or article, with brief quotations, in a news report.
Research and scholarship -- for example, quoting a short passage in a scholarly, scientific, or technical work for illustration or clarification of the author's observations.
Nonprofit educational uses -- for example, photocopying of limited portions of written works by teachers for classroom use.
Parody -- that is, a work that ridicules another, usually well-known, work by imitating it in a comic way,"

-NOLO, 2015

Public Domain

Certain Unpublished, Unregistered Works Enter Public Domain
U.S. Copyright Office
Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States
Cornell University Copyright Information Center. (2015). Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States.

Cost of Reading User Agreements

Source: Madrigal, A. C. (2012, March 1). Reading the Privacy Policies You Encounter in a Year Would Take 76 Work Days: So, it's a good thing no one reads them! The Atlantic Monthly. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/03/reading-the-privacy-policies-you-encounter-in-a-year-would-take-76-work-days/253851/#disqus_thread

Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts

Code of Best Practices in Fair Use in the Visual Arts
College Art Association. (February, 2015). Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts.

Note: If you make art, see page 11.

Code of Best Practices is a PDF file on the right.

What UTEP resources can I use to learn more about Copyright?

LibGuide: Copyright and Intellectual Property LibGuide.
UTEP. (2015). LibGuide: Copyright and Intellectual Property LibGuide.

Fair Use: What is Transformative?

Fair Use: What is Transformative?
A brief overview, with example court cases.

Organizations

The Media Institute
The Media Institute is a nonprofit research foundation specializing in communications policy issues. The Institute exists to foster three goals: freedom of speech, a competitive media and communications industry, and excellence in journalism.
The College Art Association
The College Art Association (CAA), as the preeminent international leadership organization in the visual arts, promotes these arts and their understanding through advocacy, intellectual engagement, and a commitment to the diversity of practices and practitioners.
American Institute of Graphic Arts, AIGA
Founded in 1914 as the American Institute of Graphic Arts, AIGA remains the oldest and largest professional membership organization for design and is now known simply as “AIGA, the professional association for design.”
Graphic Artists Guild
The Graphic Artists Guild primary purpose is to help our members build successful careers by equipping them with the skills and support needed to compete more effectively in an ever-changing field. Guild members are creative professionals and those studying to become creative professionals. We serve graphic and interactive designers, illustrators, animators, web programmers and developers.

ARTG 3316 Graphic Design 3: Copyright Law in the Visual Arts

Copyright and Fair Use Basics