Before You Begin
This copyright guide is a starting point with resources to help faculty & staff determine the best course of action when copyright restrictions and fair use implications are at hand. Asbury University librarians and library staff are not the copyright police, nor are we legal experts in copyright. It is our responsibility to provide resources, but not provide legal advice in regards to what you can and cannot do.
Why Does Copyright Matter?
As faculty, adhering to copyright guidelines ensures we respect intellectual property, model academic integrity for our students, and avoid legal or institutional consequences. Whether using course materials, sharing research, or integrating digital content, staying informed about copyright helps maintain academic credibility and supports a culture of responsible scholarship.
Copyright is a set of laws and regulations governing the production and distribution of created works. At its core, copyright laws (Title 17 of the United States Code) are in place to protect the works of authors, artists, composers, and others from being used without permission.
Compliance with these laws ensures Asbury University is not at risk of any violation and provides an ethical example for our students and colleagues.
Copyright should be considered in the following types of situations. *Please note that you can use something for educational purposes and still be in violation of copyright law:
Further on this guide provides examples and explanations for properly using materials. Read on to learn about:
The fair use provision of US copyright law (Section 107) allows for reproduction of copyrighted material for ‘purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research.’ Determining whether an individual use falls under Fair Use requires the consideration of four factors:
1. The PURPOSE and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. The NATURE of the copyrighted work;
3. The AMOUNT and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. The EFFECT of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
(Title 17, Section 107 United States Code)
Association of Research Libraries - Fair Use Fundamentals Infographic (2015)
Additional Tools:
Reclaiming Fair Use
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Streaming media in the classroom holds many copyright implications for both streaming media and hard-copy DVD/Blue Ray discs. As 3rd party sites offer more original/exclusive content, the terms and conditions of fair use blur.
The Copyright Act at §110(1) (face to face teaching exemption) allows for the performance or display of video or film in a classroom where instruction takes place with enrolled students physically present and the film is related to the curricular goals of the course.
The TEACH Act amendment to the Copyright Act (§ 110(2)) permits the performance of a reasonable and limited portion of films streamed or embedded in an online classroom. It does not supersede the fair use doctrine of copyright law, so films that are not allowed by the TEACH Act (feature films and dramatic works) may fall under fair use.
Films in the library's subscription databases can be embedded or linked to without violating copyright.
Considerations to keep in mind:
Licenses with streaming services prohibit public screenings, even in classroom settings. However, Netflix does make exceptions for a limited number of videos: Educational Screenings of Netflix Documentaries. Amazon Prime and HULU have no such provisions, so streaming any videos from those platforms would violate the terms of the license.
Library Resources for Streaming Media
The library has a large collection of streaming videos and audio tracks on many subjects. Most individual films or audio tracks have stable URLs that can be shared or code to embed into Discovery. Please contact a librarian if you need help embedding or sharing links.
Films on Demand, Kanopy, RightNow Media, and Naxos are the largest databases of streaming media.
In order to keep costs down, we ask that you check if the film is available in Films on Demand before checking Kanopy. We also do not automatically renew Kanopy films once their access period has ended. For assistance with purchasing access to a film on Kanopy, please contact a librarian.
Need Help Linking Streaming Resources in Discovery?
Check out our Linking to Library Resources in Discovery page or Contact a Librarian.
Frequently Asked Questions about Streaming Media:
Our student club wants to show a film, but it is for educational purposes. There is a plan for discussion about the issues raised in the film after it's shown. Do we still need Public Performance Rights (PPR)?
It depends. Ordinarily, the showing of a film by a group or club is for entertainment purposes, and thus, PPR is required. However, if the group's purpose and activities are ordinarily educational nature and the showing of the film is in furtherance of those educational purposes and activities, then it may be fair use to show the film without PPR.
What about a film series hosted by a group or club that is open to and advertised to the public?
The showing of a film as part of a film series is viewed as entertainment, even if hosted or sponsored by an educational group or club. No matter how educational the setting or how tied to the curriculum, this is generally considered not to be fair use, and PPR must be obtained.
I own the DVD that the club I am a member of wants to show. Do I still need to get PPR?
It doesn't matter where the film you are planning to show comes from -- your own collection, the Library's, or a streaming service. The analysis is the same. If an exception under copyright law does not apply (e.g., fair use, face-to-face teaching), then you must obtain PPR prior to showing the film.
What does "Home Use Only" mean? Does it mean I cannot show this DVD to my class?
Under copyright law, copyright holders have the exclusive right of performing or displaying their copyrighted works, including films or videos. The "Home Use Only" warning at the beginning of most DVDs refers to this exclusive right of performance and display. However, the law also has an exception for performing or displaying works in a face-to-face teaching situation where the work being performed or displayed is related to the curriculum and only being performed or displayed for students enrolled in a course at a non-profit educational institution. Therefore, under this exception, DVDs with the "Home Use Only" warning can be played in a face-to-face classroom. For online courses, refer to fair use for determining how much of the film can be shown.
May I show clips of films to my students as part of a lecture?
Generally, yes, this is permissible under fair use. Apply the four factors of fair use to determine whether the film in question may be used for this purpose and how much of the film may be shown. New exemptions under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act permit educators to "rip" clips from videos for educational purposes.
The film I want to show is on Netflix. Can I stream this through my Netflix account in the classroom?
Subscription services such as Netflix and Amazon have very detailed membership agreements that may forbid the streaming of subscribed content in a classroom or other public venue. When you agree to the terms of membership, you enter into a contract, and the terms of that contract trump any applicable exception in copyright. Therefore, if the membership agreement with Netflix prohibits the showing of the film in a classroom, you are bound by the terms of that agreement even if the face to face teaching exception would otherwise allow it.
Discovery is a convenient option for housing documents and linking to outside resources. However, you must take into consideration several factors when seeking to distribute content and resources to your students. Use the information below to learn about best practices.
E-resources can be added to Discovery when:
When in doubt - use the link!
Need Help Linking Library Resources in Discovery?
Check out our Linking to Library Resources in Discovery page or Contact a Librarian.
Isn't there a Religious Exemption?
While there is a copyright exemption for religious services concerning performance and display: "(3) performance of a nondramatic literary or musical work or of a dramatico-musical work of a religious nature, or display of a work, in the course of services at a place of worship or other religious assembly;" (U.S. Copyright Law 2022, p. 27), livestreaming and recording are NOT included in this exemption (Christian Copyright Solutions 2022).
Even factoring in Fair Use and the TEACH ACT -- if copyrighted resources are being used in a livestreamed or recorded worship service, you MUST have copyright permission, and proper copyright attribution must be included.
How do I comply with copyright when planning a worship / chapel service?
Elements of Worship & the Public Domain:
Music Licenses:
Licenses allow owners of copyrighted content to license their work to others for distribution and use. Asbury University has a CCLI (Christian Copyright Licensing International) copyright and streaming license. However, please note that this license covers many songs and lyrics for worship, but not all.
Find out more about copyright from CCLI in their "2 Minutes with CCLI" videos: https://ccli.com/us/en/2-minutes
To discover songs that CCLI covers, check SongSelect: https://songselect.ccli.com/
When you use a song that is covered by CCCLI, you provide proper citation credit, including:
Additional information about AU's CCLI license and usage is available upon request from IT Services.
*If you want to use a song that does not fall under our CCLI license (or is in the public domain) then you must get permission from the copyright holder.
Keep in mind that even in a song's lyrics are in the public domain (i.e. a hymn), if the music is newer or copyrighted by a popular artist then you must make sure the song (both lyrics and music) are covered by AU's CCLI license or you have copyright permission (i.e. Jeremy Camp singing "Amazing Grace").
If you throw a popular chorus into a traditional hymn, you must have copyright permissions (or public domain) for all parts of the song (i.e. "Amazing Grace, My Chains Are Gone").
Images & Art:
Many older images may be in the public domain. However, do not assume that an image found via a Google Search can be taken and used.
Images that have a Creative Commons license may be able to be used. Look at the Public Domain & Creative Commons section below.
*Always check the copyright image before using an image in a public setting or online.
Any photos you have taken yourself are fine to use because you created them.
If you are looking for classic and modern art, check out AU's subscription to ArtStor. Most of the images included there can be included in chapel as long as they are properly attributed.
Other resources for locating images you can use in worship are listed below:
Sharing Video Clips in Chapel
The ability to show a video clip in a chapel to illustrate the point needs to follow the same copyright rules as sharing a video clip in a classroom. A lot of the time, Fair Use or the TEACH Act allows this to happen for short snippets that serve an educational purpose.
However, this does NOT extend to streaming a chapel service. *If a service is being streamed, permission MUST be obtained from the copyright holder to stream the desired video clip. A simple solution to this may be to stop streaming for the duration of the clip.
This does not apply to a video that the speaker has created themselves.
For more information on streaming videos in the classroom / chapel service, see the section Streaming & Copyright - Showing Movies in Class & on Campus above.
Public Domain refers to creative materials that are not protected by intellectual property laws such as copyright, trademark, or patent laws. The public owns these works, not an individual author or artist. Anyone can use a public domain work without obtaining permission, but no one can ever own it.
The timing for when a particular type of format of work enters the public domain varies widely depending on a variety of factors, including but not limited to:
In the U.S., books generally enter the public domain 95 years after their first publication, if published before 1978, or 70 years after the death of the author for works published after 1977. Works published before 1930, are already in the public domain.
New Works to Enter the Public Domain in 2025
| Date of Publication | Conditions | Copyright Term |
|---|---|---|
| Before 1930* | None | None. In the public domain due to copyright expiration. |
| 1930*--1977 | Published without a copyright notice | None. In the public domain due to failure to comply with required formalities |
| 1978--March 1, 1989 | Published without notice, and without subsequent registration within 5 years | None. In the public domain due to failure to comply with required formalities |
| 1978--March 1, 1989 | Published without notice, but with subsequent registration within 5 years | 70 years after the death of the author. If a work of corporate authorship: 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever expires first |
| 1930*--1963 | Published with notice, but copyright not renewed | None. In the public domain due to copyright expiration |
| 1930*--1963 | Published with notice and the copyright renewed | 95 years after publication date |
| 1964--1977 | Published with notice | 95 years after publication date |
| 1978--March 1, 1989 | Created after 1977 and published with notice | 70 years after the death of the author. If a work of corporate authorship: 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever expires first |
| 1978--March 1, 1989 | Created before 1978 and first published with notice in the specified period | Either the greater of the term specified in the previous entry or December 31, 2047 |
| March 1, 1989--2002 | Created after 1977 | 70 years after the death of the author. If a work of corporate authorship: 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever expires first |
| March 1, 1989--2002 | Created before 1978 and first published in this period | Either the greater of the term specified in the previous entry or December 31, 2047 |
| After 2002 | None | 70 years after the death of the author. If a work of corporate authorship: 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever expires first |
| Anytime | Works prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties | None. In the public domain in the United States |
*Note that 1930 is the appropriate year for 2025. In 2026, this date changes to 1931; in 2027 the date changes to 1932, and so on.
**Source: Excerpt of Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States, https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain
Check out the following sites for resources in the public domain:
From the Public Domain Review at the Open Knowledge Foundation, this guide has links to sources for Public Domain works of many types, such as images, texts, videos, and more.
Thousands of short films in the domains of education, advertising, and industry.
Public domain audiobooks read by volunteers.
Images from the New York Times that are in the Public Domain.
A listing of items from Wikimedia Commons that are in the Public Domain.
Books in the Public Domain from Project Gutenberg.
Smithsonian Institution Public Domain Images
Images from the collection of the Smithsonian Institution that are in the Public Domain.
Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools. Creative Commons licenses are not an alternative to copyright. Instead, they work alongside copyright and enable you to modify your copyright terms to best suit your needs. Creative Commons vary and can be very open or not. Below are the most common Creative Commons licenses and their symbols:
CC0: No Copyright
CC BY: Lets users distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon a creative commons licensed work, even commercially, so long as they attribute the creator/author for the original creation.
CC BY-SA: Lets users remix, tweak, and build upon a creative commons licensed work, even for commercial purposes, as long as they attribute their new creations under identical licensing terms.
CC BY-NC: Lets users remix, tweak, and build upon a work non-commercially, and although new works must also acknowledge the original creator/author and be non-commercial, users don't have to license their derivative works under the same terms.
CC BY-NC-SA: Lets users remix, tweak, and build upon a work non-commercially, as long as they attribute the original creator/author and license their new creations under identical licensing terms.
CC BY-ND: Lets users reuse the work for any purpose, including commercially; however, it cannot be shared with others in adapted form, and attribution must be given to the creator/author for the original creation.
CC BY-NC-ND: The most restrictive of the 6 main licenses, this allows users to download a work and share it with others as long as the original creator/author is credited; however a user can't change the work in any way or use it commercially.
For more Creative Commons licensing information, see their About the Licenses page.
Compact Copyright
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Included in Choice's Top 75 Titles and Resources for Community College Libraries Faculty, students, and colleagues come to you with copyright questions, both simple and complex. And they all want reliable answers--as fast as you can get them. With this guide, designed for ready access, you'll be prepared to deliver. Lawyer, copyright librarian, and iSchool instructor Benson presents succinct explanations ideal for both on-the-fly reference and staff training. Copyright specialists will appreciate excerpts from the law itself alongside tools and resources for digging deeper. Practical discussions of key legal concepts, illustrated using 52 scenarios, will lead you to fast, accurate answers on a range of topics, such as barriers to using the TEACH Act provisions in content for online teaching; showing a full-length movie in a university class; public domain and the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act; your legal options when receiving a DMCA take-down notice; court interpretations of fair use in three key recent cases; Creative Commons licenses, complete with a quick reference chart; library rights to license photographs in a digital collection; using letters under copyright in a special collections display case; a grad student's right to use in a thesis writing published in their professor's journal article; applying the implied license option to post historical student dissertations in institutional repositories; the Marrakesh Treaty provision supporting transfer of accessible works internationally; and limiting factors for interlibrary loan.
Copyright Clarity
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"This book cuts to the heart of uncertainties about how copyright and fair use apply in the classroom, addressing common misperceptions and laying out the current understandings of intellectual property law in clear engaging prose."--Henry Jenkins, Provost′s Professor of Communication, Journalism, and Cinematic ArtUniversity of Southern California "This long-awaited book relieves educators′ anxieties about the legality of using copyrighted materials during instruction and presentations. In addition to answering questions about fair use practice in an easy-to-understand manner, Hobbs offers examples of how technology supports essential literacy and communication skills in 21st-century classrooms."--Diane Lapp, Distinguished Professor of EducationSan Diego State University Finally, a book that dispels confusion around the use of copyrighted materials in the classroom! Today, educators and students have access to a vast, rich array of online materials that can be used for instruction, but these resources often remain untapped because of confusion over copyright laws. In this slim, jargon-free guide, media literacy expert Renee Hobbs presents simple principles for applying copyright law and the doctrine of fair use to 21st-century teaching and learning. Complete with a ready-to-go staff development workshop, this book explores: What is permissible in the classroom Fair use of digital materials such as images, music, movies, and Internet elements found on sites such as Google and YouTube Trends in intellectual property law and copyright practices Classroom projects using copyrighted materials Copyright Clarity helps educators unlock Internet and digital media resources to classrooms while respecting the rights of copyright holders.
Copyright
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"An invaluable resource giving librarians the tools to assess copyright issues, risks, and approaches both domestically and internationally." -Library Journal, Starred Review Finally: a plain-language guide to best practices for the complex world of copyright management in academic libraries. Copyright issues continue to perplex librarians and educators. The difficulties and confusion in applying the U.S. Copyright Act became especially apparent when Covid hit and many universities turned to remote learning as their primary method of instruction. Librarians and educators struggled with applying the law for both remote learners and students who were on site. This book provides advice on how to analyze and apply the copyright law to specific areas encountered by librarians and instructors. Coverage includes: Controlled digital lending is a very hot issue and confusing to many as to how copyright could apply in those situationsremote learning do's and don'ts' is at the forefront of copyright concerns which was highlighted during the pandemicThe application of copyright to music in light of recent changes to the U.S. Copyright Act has caused much confusion. Analysis of the new law and strategies on how to include music in a curriculum as well as how libraries can provide access and preservation of musical works.Open access initiatives have become increasingly popular. However, open access does not mean that there is no copyright attached to the works.The use of data is exploding as are the copyright issues associated with it. We will examine the issues and provide options.Written by Donna L. Ferullo, the Director of the University Copyright Office at Purdue University who holds both law and library science degrees and Dwayne K. Buttler, the Evelyn J. Schneider Endowed Chair for Scholarly Communication at the University of Louisville, who also holds a law degree. Both Ferullo and Buttler have many years of experience advising their universities on copyright law.
Music Copyright
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Today's music marketplace is more complex than any previous era. It's easy to feel paralyzed by the plethora of digital services and business models, to say nothing of corresponding revenue streams--all of which are established by copyright. In simple and easy-to-read language, Music Copyright: An Essential Guide for the Digital Age takes readers step-by-step through the world of music copyright, imparting tools to navigate this intricate system. Casey Rae demystifies the laws, business practices, and trends that enable--and sometimes frustrate--a rapidly evolving industry and empowers music creators, managers, and entrepreneurs to make informed decisions. Learn about the exclusive rights attached to expressive works and how they correspond to different roles and royalties within the music marketplace. The book provides: information on protecting and registering copyrights an explanation of recent developments in the courts and Congress pertaining to music copyright lawvaluable strategies for music licensinginformation on how to sign up for royalty collection societies and an array of other useful organizations and services
