The Federal Copyright Act of 1978 was enacted to define the rights of copyright owners.  It also established “fair use” guidelines that limit the exclusive rights of copyright owners. 

Fair Use allows limited copying privileges of copyrighted works without obtaining permission from the owner.  However, improper copying without permission from the owner is a violation of copyright and deprives the owner of just rewards of his/her created work. 

Under Fair Use, you may temporarily use materials that are copyrighted for the purposes of education, critiques, and satire, in methods that do not degrade the commercial value of the work.  If you intend to use the work for more than a limited time (greater than 6 months), you need to obtain written permission from the original author, creator, or publisher of the work.  Many times, works (writings, images, etc.) will have directions for obtaining copyright permission from the author or publisher. 

Try to use graphics from pages or resources which clearly give you permission to use their materials freely.  If you use a graphic, photograph, or screen shot for a presentation make sure you use the © symbol, the name of the creator of the image and the copyright date.  Include copyright information beside or under images.

As technology has changed, new issues have arisen.  The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 was enacted in order to address copyright concerns relating to the digital environment.

In general, the following guidelines may be helpful.

• Never copy an entire book or journal
• Never make multiple copies of entire book or journal chapter
• Never make multiple copies of workbook pages
• Do not duplicate purchased video or audiotapes
• Do not show un-purchased off-air or off-satellite videos in class more than once
• Do not incorporate copyrighted materials into internet web pages (hyperlinks to the copyrighted material are permitted