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Copyright Information

An overview of issues common with copyright and the use of library information resources. Nothing in this guide is to be construed as legal advice.

Copyright Ownership and Registration

Copyright under the law immediately protects all "original work of authorship" that is "fixed in a tangible medium of expression." In this context, "original" means a minimal amount of creativity was used in its creation and "fixed in a tangible medium of expression" means that it is stable enough to be perceived or reproduced.

Works which fall under copyright law are automatically protected at the moment of creation without the need of further action. If you wish to challenge a copyright infringement in a court of law, however, it is often necessary to register your your work with the U.S. Copyright Office.

For information relating to your rights, how to register your copyright, and how to transfer your copyrights to another person, visit the U.S. Copyright Registration Portal linked below.

Open Access in Support of Copyright Ownership

Open access journals are an alternative to traditional publishing and remove all impediments to information for all levels of researchers. Traditional publishing and academic journals often require authors to cede their copyright over original work, where as open access journals typically allow authors to retain their copyright in some form. Common features of open access initiatives include no expectation of payment for contributing scholars, free and full availability via the Internet for users to journals, and copyright constraint only in the retaining of integrity, acknowledgement, and citation to the work's author. The Directory of Open Access Journals is a well known aggregator of free journals. It will only accept works that are peer-reviewed, have editorial quality, have a scholarly nature, and are serial in format.

For more information, please visit the Dykes Library Open Access guide linked below.