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Thomas College attempts to make a good faith, reasonable effort to
comply with the spirit and intent of existing copyright law (Title 17 of the
United States Code, on the Web at http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/title17/
).
Section
106 of Title 17 stipulates that copyright holders retain exclusive rights of
reproduction, distribution, derivation, public performance, and display. Under most circumstances, prior
permission must be acquired before making any use of copyrighted material.
An exception to the copyright owner’s exclusive rights is “fair
use.” Section 107 of
Title 17 states:
§ 107. Limitations
on exclusive rights: Fair use
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work,
including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other
means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news
reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship,
or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the
use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be
considered shall include-
(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a
commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the
copyrighted work as a whole; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted
work.
The fact that awork is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such
finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.
College employees should weigh the four factors above to determine
whether a contemplated use of copyrighted material constitutes fair use.
According to the first factor, material should be used for nonprofit educational purposes
to qualify as a fair use. Included but
unstated in the first factor are limitations on availability and duration of
access, i.e., material should be available only to students of a particular
class and only for a limited period of time (never more than one
semester). Materials posted on the
Web should be password protected.
According to the second factor, nonfiction or factual work is more likely to qualify for
fair use than creative work.
According to the third factor, only a small portion of a work can be used to qualify for fair
use. Individual journal articles
are considered whole works and therefore do not generally qualify. On the other hand, if the weight of the
other 3 factors tends strongly toward fair use, then a substantial part or a
work or a whole work may be used.
According to the fourth factor, material which is sold for profit or which draws from
potential sales of the original, does not qualify for fair use.
DMCA
In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, since
incorporated into Title 17,
the College provides a contact person and a process for addressing claims of
copyright infringement. The
“designated agent” for claims of infringement is:
Christopher Rhoda
Thomas College
180 West River Road
Waterville, ME 04901
(207) 859-1124
mailto:chris@thomas.edu
Claimants should supply to the designated agent the following
information (from Section 512 of
Title 17):
(3) Elements of Notification.-
(A) To be effective under this subsection, a notification of claimed infringement must be
a written communication provided to the designated agent of a service provider
that includes substantially the following:
(i) A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of
the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
(ii) Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if
multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single
notification, a representative list of such works at that site.
(iii) Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the
subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is
to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit the service
provider to locate the material.
(iv) Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact the
complaining party, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an
electronic mail address at which the complaining party may be contacted.
(v) A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the
material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner,
its agent, or the law.
(vi) A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under
penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf
of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
Upon notification of a possible copyright violation, the designated
agent will expeditiously remove the material in question and contact the
employee responsible for its posting.
If agreement cannot be reached between the designated agent and the
employee, the matter will be brought before the Academic Computing Committee
for resolution.
Material found to be in violation of copyright law, including the
provisions of the fair use clause, will remain removed. If, however, material is found not to
be in violation of copyright law, it may be reposted. The designated agent will be responsible for communicating
with the claimant regarding the final disposition of the claim of copyright
infringement.
The designated agent will keep a record of all claims of copyright
violation. Employees who receive
three complaints will be barred from use of the College network, in accordance
with Section
512 of Title 17.
IMPORTANT: Even though the College may avoid liability for copyright
violations under the safe harbor provision described above, individual
employees remain liable for their misuse and are encouraged to use extreme
caution when posting copyrighted materials without prior permission from the
copyright holder.
Circumvention
Section
1201 of Title 17 stipulates that “technological measures” (e.g., password
protection) set by copyright holders may not be circumvented for fair use
purposes.
CMI
Section
1202 of Title 17 stipulates that copyright management information (CMI)
must be retained and must accompany any use of a copyrighted work. CMI includes copyright notice
information, often designated with the symbol ©. CMI also includes the name of the author or copyright owner,
the title of the work, and the performers and writers credited on an
audiovisual work. CMI may further
include terms and conditions for use of the work, such as restrictive
prohibitions printed in a book and “click on” contracts governing downloaded
materials.
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