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Copyright Guidelines

  1. The following statement concerning copyright restrictions will be prominently displayed in each ECR area:

    WARNING CONCERNING COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS

    Pursuant to the federal Copyright Act (Title 17 of the United States Code), it is presumptively unlawful to reproduce, distribute, or publicly display any copyrighted work (or any substantial portion thereof) without the permission of the copyright owner. The statute, however, recognizes a "fair use" defense that has the effect of excusing an act of copyright infringement. It is the intention of Nova Southeastern University to act within the parameters of the fair use defense in allowing limited posting of copyrighted materials in Electronic Course Reserve areas such as this one. It is the intention of Nova Southeastern University, moreover, that such materials be made available solely for the purposes of private study, scholarship, and research, and that any further reproduction of such materials by students, by printing or downloading, be limited to such purposes. Any further reproduction of copyrighted materials made from this computer system may be in violation of copyright laws and is prohibited.
  2. Material in each Electronic Course Reserve area is to be accessible only to students enrolled within the course.
  3. At the end of each course, copyrighted material (other than that for which permission to reproduce has been obtained from the copyright owner) will be immediately removed from the Electronic Reserve Course system and all access links will be deactivated.
  4. Materials created by the instructor, or created by other faculty members and/or students and used with their permission, may be freely placed in an ECR area and retained thereon indefinitely.
    Examples of such materials include, but are not limited to, the following:
    1. Quizzes/Exams/Solutions
    2. Homework assignments
    3. Syllabi
    4. Study guides
    5. Bibliographies
    6. Lecture notes
    7. Student papers
    8. Visual aids
    In addition, materials published by the federal government, or any agency thereof, is not subject to copyright restrictions and may be freely used.
  5. Material that may be placed in an Electronic Course Reserve area without obtaining copyright permission includes the following:
    1. Two articles from a journal issue per course.
    2. One chapter, or 15%, from a single work per course.
  6. Materials placed in an Electronic Course Reserve area are intended to supplement, not replace, textbooks or coursepacks.
    Posted readings should not constitute more than 35% of the required readings for the course. Any requests that exceed this percentage will be considered to be an electronic coursepack. As such, the necessary copyright permissions must be obtained prior to posting.
    For the purposes of this section, the word "course" refers to the teaching of a particular curricular offering by a particular instructor.
  7. Uses of copyrighted material which require the permission of the copyright owner include:
    1. A journal article, magazine article, or book chapter intended for use for more than one course.
    2. Multiple chapters from a single book or multiple articles from a single journal or magazine.
  8. Permission to use a copyrighted work may be sought in a number of ways:
    1. Through the NSU Copyright Center;
    2. Through the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.
  9. Except as provided in paragraph 6, a course instructor shall, with respect to each item placed in an ECR area,
    1. Provide proof that permission has been attained from the copyright owner or state in writing, that no such permission is needed
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Last update: 12/28/11