United States Copyright Law and related laws contained within Title 17 of the Unites States Code (with The Copyright Act of 1976 providing the basic framework for current copyright law) protects the moral and intellectual rights of authors*, until the period of copyright protection ends (whereupon the works revert to the public domain - i.e., are no longer protected and can be used freely by the public).

Due to deliberately built-in exceptions meant to allow the public limited use of small amounts of authors' creations prior to the entry of said works into the public domain (with the Fair Use Doctrine being the most familiar to educators), scholarly communication, research, education as we know it today - and libraries - are possible.

Working within those parameters, the Whittemore Library complies with all U.S. copyright law, and strongly recommends that the FSU community (students, faculty, staff, and administrators) become familiar enough with the basics of U.S. copyright law to ensure that they themselves do not knowingly or unknowingly infringe upon the rights of any of the authors of the copyrighted materials which are available within the Whittemore Library's collections.

Keep in Mind:

• If your use of a copyright material is going beyond what is considered 'Fair Use', you have to get written permission from the copyright owner. You also may have to obtain a license, which may cost money.
• It's not just printed items that are protected - so is audio, videos, images, and of course digital internet content. It's NOT fair game just because you found it somewhere on the internet.
• If you are going to copy and distribute copyrighted materials at FSU, it's YOUR responsibility to make sure you're not going beyond the bounds of 'Fair Use'. This includes when uploading copyrighted materials to your Canvas class site.

To get more familiar with the basics of copyright law, see our Copyright & Fair Use Help Guide

*Here, referring to anyone who has created an original, fixed expression (writing, art, music, poetry, dance, theater, film, etc.) of an idea.