PHOTOCOPYING AND THE NEW COPYRIGHT LAW (PR 94-553)

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PHOTOCOPYING AND THE NEW COPYRIGHT LAW

(TITLE 17, UNITED STATES CODE)

The copyright law fundamentally alters what may lawfully be photocopied and in what quantity. The guidelines as they affect Reserve materials are briefly summarized below.

A teacher may:

Make a single copy, for use in scholarly research, or in teaching, or in preparation for teaching a class, of the following:

1. A chapter from a book.

2. An article from a periodical or newspaper.

3. A short story, short essay, or short poem, whether or not from a collected work.

4. A chart, graph, diagram, drawing, cartoon, or picture from a book, periodical, or newspaper.

Make multiple copies for classroom use only, and not to exceed one per student in a class, of the following:

1. A complete poem, if it is less than 250 words and printed on not more than two pages.

2. An excerpt from a longer poem, if it is less than 250 words.

3. A complete article, story, or essay, if it is less than 2,500 words.

4. An excerpt from a prose work, if it is less than 1,000 words or 10 percent of the work, whichever is less.

5. One chart, graph, diagram, drawing, cartoon, or picture per book or periodical.

6. Each copy must include a notice of copyright.

A teacher may not:

Make multiple copies of a work for classroom use if it has already been copied for another class in the same institution.

Make multiple copies of a short poem, article, story or essay from the same author more than once in a class term or make multiple copies from the same collective work or periodical issue more than three times a year.

Make multiple copies of works more than nine times in the same class term.

Make a copy of works to take the place of an anthology.

Make a copy "consumable" materials, such as workbooks.

The copies may not be reused the following semester. The copying must not be directed by higher authority or substitute for purchases; the same work cannot be copied semester after semester. Copies may not be combined into anthologies.

Should your needs exceed the above restrictions, please contact the holder of the copyright. Please see below:

HOW TO OBTAIN PERMISSION FROM THE COPYRIGHT OWNER

The following steps should be followed to obtain permission from the copyright owner:

1. Determine who owns the copyright on the material to be copied.

2. Send the request with a self-addressed return envelope to the permission department of the publisher in question including the following information:

a. Title, author, and/or editor, and edition of materials to be duplicated.

b. Exact material to be used, giving amount, page numbers, chapters and, if possible, a photocopy of the material.

c. Number of copies to be made.

d. Use to be made of duplicated materials.

e. Form of distribution (classroom, reserves, newsletter, etc).

f. Whether or not the material is to be sold.

g. Type of reprint (ditto, photocopy, offset, typeset).

3. Allow plenty of time to obtain permission.

The above steps are a summary of suggestions given in a booklet entitled, "Explaining the New Copyright Law: A Guide to Legitimate Photocopying of Copyrighted Materials" published by The Association of American Publishers.

This page compiled by Marsha Keenan

Texas A&M University-Commerce