Open Educational Resources

The U.S. Copyright Office defines copyright as protecting "original works of authorship." In other words, as soon as someone creates any type of work i.e. artwork, images, books, poems, song recordings, etc., then it is immediately protected by the copyright law. It then becomes what's called intellectual property and is solely owned by the creator who is given exclusive rights to the work. 

The fair use exemption allows copyrighted materials to be used for commentary and criticism (think reaction videos), research, news reporting or for teaching. Certain situations override the creator's copyright rights such as libraries and archives.  

For more information, visit section 107 and 108 of the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17). 

If an author or creator wants to allow others to use their work, but with restrictions, then a license can be used. The author still owns the copyright of the work. 

Depending on the license that the author chooses, they can decide how to allow others to redistribute, remake or reuse their works. For example, one author may only allow their works to be used for educational purposes and not for commercial (for profit) use. 

Creative Commons is one of the mostly commonly used licenses. Under this license, the work still retains copyright protections, but the author is allowing the public to use the work under copyright law.

Use the Creative Commons License Chooser to determine which license best fits your work.

Do I have to register with the copyright office?

You do not have to register your work with the Copyright Office, but if you expect your work to have high value, expect others to try to steal your work or there may be a copyright dispute such as two brand names that are too similar to each other and may confuse customers, then registering will eliminate those potential problems. 

What are the rights of creators? 

• The right to reproduce and distribute. 
• The right to prepare derivative works based on the original (in other words, the right to modify an original work and say it's your own) 
• The right to perform and display the work publicly i.e. a musical play or choreographic work.
• The right to authorize others to use the work.

How long does the copyright protection last? 

The length depends on the work's creation date. Currently, works created on or after January 1, 1978 have protection during the author's life plus seventy years after the author's death. If the work is by multiple authors, then the seventy year term starts after the last surviving author's death.

For "works made for hire and anonymous or pseudonymous works, copyright protection is 95 years from the publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter." Works created before 1978 have a different length term.

For more information, visit U.S. Copyright Office.