Posting Materials on the Internet

A Project of the
IUPUI Copyright Management Center

Kenneth D. Crews, Associate Dean of the Faculties for Copyright Management
Patrick Okorodudu, Esq. UITS Copyright Coordinator

Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis
530 West New York Street
Indianapolis, Indiana 46202
Voice: 317-274-4400 Fax: 317-278-3326
http://www.copyright.iupui.edu

The new Internet technologies available to computer users have tremendous networking, programming, and other user-specific capabilities. Music copying, DVD, video, movie making, research preparations and many other activities have been made easily accessible to the regular computer user. With the click of a computer “mouse”, you can cut, copy, and paste materials to a website. You must be aware that certain kinds of behavior, while using personal computing resources, can lead to copyrights infringement. An infringement can occur when you use a copyright owner’s work or materials in an unauthorized manner. The possible copyright infringements an IUPUI computer user may encounter can be: photocopying; uploading to and downloading from websites; copying software; and sharing music, movie and data files. For more information on sharing files, see: CMC Filesharing and Copyright and File Sharing @ IU: What you need to know http://filesharing.iu.edu

Please realize that copyright owners hold certain exclusive rights in a work such as:

•reproduction of the work;
•distribution of copies of the work;
•making of “derivative” works;
•public performance; and
•public display.

Many people mistakenly assume that everything posted on the Internet is in the public domain. It is vital for you to know that, current copyright law gives legal protection to nearly all text, images, audiovisual recordings, and other materials that are posted on the Internet, even if the original works do not include any statement about copyright.

You may post materials on your websites only if:

1. You are the copyright owner of the material, or
2. The copyright owner of the material grants permission, or
3. The material is in the public domain, or
4. The use of the material is a "fair use" under the law, or
5. The material falls within another statutory exception.

Fair use plays a key role in the online world; just it has done with other forms of traditional media. Fair use is a legal doctrine that allows the public to make limited uses of copyrighted works without permission. Do not assume that a nonprofit, educational use or giving credit for the source of the work, or because you are merely building a family or personal website creates an inherent fair use. Limiting the amount of material you post on your website, and restricting access to the material are creative ways of strengthening your claim of fair use. For information about fair use, see: Copyright Management Center: Fair-Use Issues.

Obtaining permission from the copyright owner is an important option for posting materials on the World Wide Web. For more information about permissions, see: Copyright Management Center: How to Secure Permission to Use Copyrighted Works

Original: August 9, 2004