0.8 Universities and copyright  (Page 4/5)

There are many situations that develop in academic work in which it is difficult to say whether a certain use is “Fair”. A very useful tool is the “Fair Use Checklist” at the Columbia University Copyright Advisory Office. The checklist can be printed out and attached to the document to be used. Using the checklist will help the instructor decide whether to claim Fair Use. If they do, keeping the checklist is a reliable way to document how their decision was made. (Copyright Advisory Office 2009) (External Link)

It is important for faculty to document their Fair Use decisions. As explained by Mary Minow: “If you work for a nonprofit educational institution, library, or archives and are acting within the scope of employment the court can bring the statutory damage award down to $0, even if you are found to be infringing copyright. For this to happen, you must show that you believed and had reasonable grounds for believing that your use was Fair Use.” (Minow 2008) (External Link) . Keeping a checklist for every item claimed as a Fair Use establishes that the faculty member had reasonable grounds to believe that Fair Use applies.

Any person, whether university faculty, student, or ordinary citizen can use the Fair Use checklist whenever the question of Fair Use arise.

1. Why are Electronic Theses&Dissertations (ETDs) becoming popular?

Many universities now encourage their graduate students to put their theses and dissertations online for free access. Some even provide the web space, such as Bowling Green State University ((Bowling Green State University Graduate College 2010) (External Link) ).

Placing a thesis or dissertation online makes it immensely more available to other researchers than preserving it in a few paper copies available only at the university where it was written. It can be found by using a search engine, and other researchers in the field may contact the writer. Even if their university does not support electronic theses or dissertations, a student may place their work online themselves if they so choose.

Many graduating students, especially on the PhD level, hope to publish part of or their entire dissertation. If they do not plan to change much of it before publishing, then they should not place it online. However, the hoped-for publication may not happen for two or more years, and it may be necessary to update some of the information. In such a case, having posted it online will not prevent a publication.

Most Electronic Theses and Dissertations can be found through the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations at (External Link) (Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations 2010).

What about Dr. Mendez and her student?

This pair of researchers have run into several copyright issues with their project. To start with, until they sign it away, Dr. Mendez and her student own the copyright jointly. The journal can demand copyright clearance on anything it wants to; there is no word limit or legislation that governs the need to do this. When signing the contract to publish, Dr. Mendez can reserve the right to distribute on her personal web site. Some publishers won’t allow this, but many will.