WMU Copyright Guidelines

Copyright law (United States Code Title 17), the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (1998) and the TEACH Act (2002) govern how one person may use another’s original work. Copyright includes literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works and covers both published and unpublished materials.

In general copyright automatically gives the work's creator the exclusive rights to reproduce, distribute, display and perform works unless the creator grants those rights, either exclusively or non-exclusively, to another individual or entity (such as a publisher).

"Fair use" is an exception to copyright law that allows someone to use copyrighted materials without the permission of the author based on a four factor test. Educational use does NOT automatically confer 'fair use'.

WMU Libraries’  Copyright and Legal Information Use