Copyright Information


What Does the Law Say?

This section will briefly cover the basics of copyright law and answer a few common questions. Copyright law can be very complex, and this reference is designed to provide information about a fairly narrow area of the law. This is not intended to serve as actual legal advice. Should you need legal advice on campus, please click here.

The text of the law may be found here. Again, please remember that the information provided here is not intended as legal advice. We are simply providing answers to commonly asked questions.




  • What IS copyright?
    • Copyright is a collection of rights that attach to an original work. The law was intended to protect creators of works, and to reassure them that they would be given proper credit and recognition for these works. The law also provides for some penalties for people who violate the law.
    • An "original work" is a work that is distinguishable from another version. Themes can be re-used (think "Romeo and Juliet"), and as long as each new work retains enough originality, it can be copyrighted.
    • In order to actually own a copyright in a work, it must be original (see above), bear a copyright notice, and be registered with the Copyright Office. There is typically a small fee for registration, but if a work is not registered, the owner may not sue for additional statutory damages in case of an infringement. After 1989, the requirement for the copyright notice was dropped, under the assumption that someone acting in good faith would contact the copyright owner for permission to use the work. However, having the notice on the work provides an easier way to know who created it, and reduces the chances of an infringer being able to claim "I didn't know!"

  • What are the penalties for violating the law?
    • Under the No Electronic Theft Act, the following penalties are assessed for copyright infringements in digital format(s):
      • Works having a combined retail value of more than $2,500 within any time frame: Up to five years in federal prison and $250,000 in fines.
      • Works having a combined retail value of less than $1,000, all within six months: Up to one year in federal prison and $100,000 in fines.
    • The following penalties may be assessed for digital and non-digital offenses. If the infringement is of a digital work, these penalties may be combined with the penalties above.
      • Penalty per infringement: $750 - $30,000. The purpose of this penalty is to demonstrate that it's just cheaper to buy the license and not worry about getting caught.
      • Intent penalty: An innocent infringement may draw an additional $200 penalty. An innocent infringement is one where you genuinely didn't know you were doing something wrong, or one where you tried to follow the letter of the law but failed for some reason. A willful infringement may draw an additional $150,000 penalty, if you were aware that your actions were wrong but took them anyways.

  • Who owns a copyright, and what rights do they have?
    • The creator owns the copyright in their own works. They may choose to give up some or all of these rights, by dedicating the work to the public or obtaining an alternate copyright such as a Creative Commons license.
    • Typically, when a creator sells their work to a publisher, distributor, or other production-type company, they transfer some of their rights to that company. They may choose which rights they wish to transfer, and in what formats their work may be used. For instance, a writer of a literary work may choose to give up the rights to reproduction, distribution, and display to her publishing company, but she may choose to give up these rights for the print format only -- no audio books. She may even choose to limit the amount of time the publishing company may have these rights before they become hers again.

  • What kinds of things are copyrighted?
    • The safest thing is to assume that everything is copyrighted. Music, literary works, photographs, works of art, sculptures, dramatic works, sound recordings, movies, choreographies, web pages, computer programs, and architectural works are all able to be copyrighted. But just because something is copyrighted doesn't mean that you can't download it.
    • Copyright "attaches" when a work is created. As it says in the question and answer above, there are specific rights that can be given up, transferred to others, or kept by the author. So even though just about everything is copyrighted, but that doesn't have to be a deterrent!
    • There are several categories of works which are not protected by copyright. United States government documents are not copyrightable. Works that failed to meet the definition of originality are not copyrightable. Further, copyright is available only for a finite term, generally seventy years from the death of the author.
    • When in doubt, assume it's copyrighted. If you do some homework and find out who owns the copyright and what they allow you to do with it, you may find out that you're allowed to download it for free! For more on how to figure this out, click here.

  • What is Fair Use, and what exceptions does it provide in copyright law?
    • Fair Use is a provision in copyright law that allows certain uses of copyrighted materials. Generally, these uses are:
      • Educational works and teaching
      • Social commentary or criticism
      • News reporting
      • Parody
    • However, not every use that could be justified in the above manner(s) qualifies as Fair Use. Fair Use can also be defined by the purpose of the use, the amount of the original work that is used, the nature of the work, and the effect on the work's market.
    • To put this in more concrete terms, you are generally allowed to make one copy (amount) of a work (unless it has been expressly forbidden) for your personal use in your schoolwork (purpose). If the work has a limited market, such as a book for your advanced math course (nature) that has little use to the average reader and is not sold in Barnes and Noble, your copying of this work has a stronger effect on the work's market. This is because, as a member of the book's limited target audience, you are choosing to copy a section rather than buy the book. If the target audience of a book is 100 people, your copying of the book causes a loss of 1% of the publisher's revenue.
    • In certain situations, if you are found guilty of copyright infringement but can prove that you were making a genuine effort to follow the guidelines of Fair Use, the judge may reduce the damages to $0.
    • Fair Use is a strong defense to copyright infringement. You should be aware of these rights, and use them! If we all ignore Fair Use rights, they could disappear.

  • What are UNC's responsibilities under the law?
    • When you are on campus, UNC serves as your Internet Service Provider (ISP). As an ISP, we have two different capacities: processing Internet requests, and hosting personal webspace. This means that if you use our network to download or upload copyrighted materials, we have different responsibilities than if you were offering these files from your webspace.
    • In both capacities, we as an ISP may not initiate the download, modify the material(s), or keep them longer than necessary. When the material is stored on your webspace, however, we have more complex responsibilities.
      • We may not be aware that the infringing material exists.
      • We may not receive a financial benefit from the existence of the material.
      • Upon notification that the material is infringing copyright, we must remove access to it immediately.
      • We may not restore access until we are certain the material is gone, or is not infringing.
    • Following the above restrictions means that UNC will generally not be held liable for your actions. However, under certain circumstances, we may be sued along with you.

Copyright 2005 S. Adair Thaxton - Reproduce, Redistribute, But Please Cite!