Penn State University Libraries - Copyright and Plagiarism

Copyright laws (title 17, U. S. Code) provide protection to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works. For complete copyright information, see the United States Copyright Office's web page.

Under copyright law, if you don't own the copyright to a work, you cannot do the following without permission from the copyright holder:

• Reproduce copies of the work
• Create derivitave works based on the work
• Distribute copies of the work
• Perform the work publicly
• Display the work publicly

However, under certain circumstances, using parts of copyrighted works is considered “fair use,” and is allowable under the law. Courts consider these four factors in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:

• the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
• the nature of the copyrighted work; 
  amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
• the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. 
  

Information on fair use from the U.S. Copyright Office.

Many authors, musicians, and other creators have begun using Creative Commons licenses, which allow others to use their work in certain ways without asking permission. 

Copyright-Fair Use

Are you starting a new research paper, a video, or other project that involves using and citing sources? This Copyright-Fair Use guide (HTML version) presents the basics of copyright, fair use, and citing materials. Links to great library resources for digital media projects are also shared. For a PDF brochure download the Copyright-Fair Use brochure.