The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code, 1976) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materials. The Digital Millenium Copy right Act (DMCA) of 1998 is designed to protect copyright holders from online theft. Copying, distributing, downloading, and uploading information on the Internet may infringe on the rights of the copyright owner. Even an innocent, unintentional infringement violates the law.Every audio, visual or written work has copyright protection unless that protection has expired or the creator places it in the public domain. The work does not have to have a copyright notice or a copyright symbol to be protected by copyright. If you cannot determine whether or not a work is copyrighted assume that it is copyrighted.

Members of the Digital Media Services (DMS) staff will adhere to and will not knowingly violate the intent and the specifics of copyright laws. Furthermore, members of the DMS staff will not duplicate media materials without expressed written consent from the copyright owner. Copyright ownership information usually can be found in the recorded or printed material itself or on labels and covers. It is the user’s responsibility to determine whether information is copyrighted, whether it meets the criteria for “fair use”, and to seek permission from the copyright holder for its use as necessary.

For more information regarding resources for copyright at Loyola, please visit the following links:

• Copyright Highlights: http://www.luc.edu/copyright/highlights.shtml
• Duplication of Copyrighted Material: http://www.luc.edu/copyright/Duplication.shtml

For additional information and resources outside of the Loyola University Chicago system, please review the following external web resources:

• United States Copyright Office: http://www.copyright.gov/
• Fair Use as Defined by Stanford: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/index.html