Additional Resources

Obtaining Copyright Permissions

Sherpa/RoMEO
Interested in discovering if the work you would like to use is under copyright? Check out this database to look for publishers' copyright transfer agreements.
WATCH
Does the portion of the work you wish to use exceed fair use? Search Writers, Authors, and Their Copyright Holders database to find its current copyright holder. This is the largest database of U.S. and U.K. copyright holders, providing contact and permissions information for copyright-protected materials. It is regularly assessed for accuracy and is supported by the Harry Ransom Center of University of Texas and University of Reading Library in the United Kingdom.

Request for Permission - Classroom Use
A template that can be used for requesting permission from copyright holders.

Fair Use and TEACH Act Resources

Campus Copyright Rights & Responsibilities: A Basic Guide to Policy Considerations
Prepared by the Association of American Publishers, the Association of American Universities, the Association of American University Presses, and the Association of Research Libraries, this guide presents a basic explanation of copyright law with an emphasis on its application to colleges and universities.
Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic & Research Libraries
American Research Libraries' guide for best fair use practices.
Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts
Created by the College Art Association, this code of best practices acts as a guide for fair use compliance.
Distance Education and the TEACH Act
The American Library Association offers a summary to the TEACH Act, history to Section 110(2), resources that includes FAQs, and Blackboard Best Practices.
Online Learning Resource from the Fordham Faculty Technology Center
Information and resources are provided for Fordham's online distance education program.
Visual Resources Association: Statement on the Fair Use of Images for Teaching, Research and Study
Guidance provided by the Visual Resources Association for images and fair use.

Fordham University Libraries: Teach Act Checklist
The TEACH Act Checklist will allow you to check to see if your use of materials fall within the TEACH Act exemption. Save a copy of the filled out form to document your research.
Fordham University Libraries: Fair Use Checklist
The Fair Use Checklist will allow you to see if your use of materials falls within the Fair Use exception. Be sure to fill out the checklist in order. Save a copy of the filled out form to document your research.

Information on Copyright Dates and Renewals

When Works Pass Into the Public Domain: Copyright Term for Archivist
This resource was created by Peter Hirtle at Cornell University.
Copyright Renewal Database
This database, created and maintained by Stanford University, makes searchable the copyright renewal records received by the U.S. Copyright Office between 1950 and 1992 for books published in the U.S. between 1923 and 1963.

Copyright Tutorials

Want to gauge your knowledge about copyright? Try these assessments!

Test Your Knowledge and take a class with the Copyright Clearance Center.
Coursera offers a free Copyright Course!

Campus Guide to Copyright Compliance
This guide helps answer questions ranging from basic copyright law to the more complex topics of ILL and e-reserves.

Public Domain and Creative Commons Resources

Digital Public Library of America is a platform that hosts millions of digitized projects from the United States' universities, archives, museums, and more. Many of the works that have been aggregated through DPLA are under creative commons licenses, or exist in the public domain.

Flickr offers Creative Commons images when searching through its database of user-uploaded images. These range from CC BY Attribution to CC BY-NC-ND as well as Public Domain options.

Free Music Archive offers music from current composers that have placed Created Commons licenses on their music. Some of the composers have even gone as far as placing their music in the Public Domain!

Creative Commons: Music Communities: A list of different music communities that licenses music under creative commons licenses.

Jamendo offers royalty-free music licenses and hosts a great community for musicians and music lovers alike.

NYPL Digital Collections offers over 650,000 items and growing everyday. These items are free for all to view, and although some of them are in the public domain, some images do have restrictions that will need their permissions requested. Their database offers drawings, rare and illuminated manuscripts, maps, photographs, videos, and more.

Opsound is a community of musicians who share their music that you may use freely for commercial and noncommercial use. They license all of their music under Creative Commons and encourage creativity from the users.

Project Gutenberg offers over 59,000 ebooks that can be downloaded in various formats. There is no fee, and they're all free!

Youtube and Vimeo provide a variety of videos that can be watched whenever and wherever. Before using and/or distributing videos from these sites, check that their licenses allow for such uses.

Copyright: Creativity at Work

A.I., Art, and Copyright: The Human Element That Makes All the DifferenceThis link opens in a new windowMay 2, 2025
You are subscribed to Copyright: Creativity at Work for U.S. Copyright Office. This information has recently been updated, and is now available.

A.I., Art, and Copyright: The Human Element That Makes All the Difference

05/02/2025 01:02 PM EDT

This blog post is adapted from an article written by Copyright Office staff that was originally published in WIPO Magazine’s special edition on Music and IP, April 2025, a publication of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The capabilities of the latest generative AI technologies raise significant questions about the nature and scope of human …

U.S. Copyright Office Releases New Copyright Registration Toolkit

NewsNet 1070

April 22, 2025

Today, the U.S. Copyright Office released the Copyright Registration Toolkit, a comprehensive resource designed to help creators, small business owners, advisors, and others navigate the copyright system. As part of the Copyright Office’s Copyright for All initiative, the toolkit is a visual breakdown of copyright, including essential information about copyright law, how to prepare for copyright registration, what to expect during the process, and post-registration considerations.

“The Copyright Registration Toolkit makes copyright information more accessible and user-friendly for all creators,” said Associate Register of Copyrights and Director of Public Information and Education Miriam Lord. “Resources like this one empower authors, artists, musicians, and their advisors to protect and manage creative works with confidence.”

Developed in conjunction with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's intellectual property (IP) toolkits for trademarks, trade secrets, and patents, these resources collectively provide a broad overview of IP protection under U.S. law.

Copyright Office attorneys, writers, and designers collaborated on the toolkit to ensure it serves as a reliable and engaging reference for creators making business decisions about their creative works and for advisors who help guide them in understanding their rights as IP owners.

To learn more, visit the landing page on Intellectual Property Toolkits. For further inquiries, the Public Information Office is available Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m. eastern time, to assist with questions about the copyright registration process.

Looking Back at the First African American Winners of an Emmy, Grammy, and OscarThis link opens in a new windowFeb 27, 2025
You are subscribed to Copyright: Creativity at Work for U.S. Copyright Office. This information has recently been updated, and is now available.

Looking Back at the First African American Winners of an Emmy, Grammy, and Oscar

02/27/2025 12:07 PM EST

Since its initial observation in the United States in 1976, Black History Month celebrates the achievements, contributions, culture, and history of African Americans. Every year, the Copyright Office highlights the impact of Black artists within the copyright system. In particular, copyright incentivizes the production of performing arts works, which are generally intended to be performed before an …

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Copyright Resources: Additional Resources