Copyright Use Tutorial: NCSU Libraries

The Internet

Many university courses that are either entirely or partially Web-based. Such courses raise many difficult questions. Who owns these courses? Who can use these courses? What kinds of copyrighted works can the professor include in the courses? Web access also raises questions about using materials found on the Internet. What can you use? What can't you use?

Using Material Found on the Internet

Copyright law applies to works found on the Internet in much the same way that it applies to works found in any other resource. Copyright protection begins the moment an original work is fixed in a tangible medium of expression, so as soon as these works are typed into a computer, they are fully protected by copyright. Since the copyright notice is no longer necessary for works created after March 1, 1989, the absence of a copyright notice on a work posted on the Internet does not mean that the work is not copyrighted; it probably is. Works may be on the Internet illegally, and permission from a Web page administrator to use something is meaningless unless he/she is also the copyright holder of the work or is otherwise authorized to grant such permissions.

The right to make a derivative work is also one of the rights of the copyright holder. A derivative work is defined as "a work based upon one or more preexisting works, such as a translation, musical arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, sound recording, art reproduction, abridgement, condensation, or any other form in which a work may be recast, transformed, or adapted." Caution should be exercised before appropriating graphics, artwork, text, or other copyrighted materials from Web sites, manipulating them, and using them in your own materials.