Copyright Clearance

The U.S. Copyright Act and its related laws affect the University community in many different ways. This page will direct you to sources for answering some of your copyright questions.

The website of Yale's General Counsel's Office is a great place to start and includes a great deal of information about copyright, including a discussion on “Copyright: Academic Copying and Student Course Packets”, the University's TEACH Act Guidelines, and a Fair Use Tool for guidance on posting copyrighted materials online.

For information on registering a work with the U.S. Copyright Office, or searching to see if a work is registered with the Copyright Office, please see the official website of that Office.

Other useful websites: 

• Columbia University website on copyright: includes a checklist for fair use, copyright and libraries and model forms for permissions.
• Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries: includes a useful discussion on posting appropriately tailored course-related content online (Principle 1).
• The Copyright Clearance Center: for permission to reproduce written works.
• Cornell University's chart on when works pass into the public domain

Finally, Michael VanderHeijen, the Associate Director for Scholarly and Research Services, is available to chat and direct you to additional resources for answering your questions.