This document is part of a series of white papers on various copyright issues. One statute, 17 USC § 109, provides a number of exceptions specifically for libraries. In addition to fair use, there are a variety of other exceptions built into the copyright law that don’t get as much attention.This paper argues that as there is no digital first sale, libraries can continue to use 17 USC ​§ ​109 for physical collections and are safe to lend the books they own without worrying about copyright problems.

This document is part of a series of white papers on various copyright issues. One statute, 17 USC § 108, provides a number of exceptions specifically for libraries. In addition to fair use, there are a variety of other exceptions built into the copyright law that don’t get as much attention.This paper specifically addresses one of 108’s lesser-used provisions and the value it may hold for libraries and archives: 108(h).

This document is part of a series of white papers on various copyright issues. This section revisit the current e-course reserves policy, which allows faculty members to make some readings available for electronic reserve. It uses the case from the 11th Circuit which may clarify how schools can use electronic course reserves.

This document is part of a series of white papers on various copyright issues. A copyright license is a contract to use a work in certain limited ways. Because copyright grants authors a “bundle of rights” over their works, rights holders can choose how other people can use any or all of those 11 rights without giving away their entire copyrights. They use licenses to do this. This section will address several ways that licensing is unique for music copyright and introduce four licenses that are common in this space.

This document is part of a series of white papers on various copyright issues. This white paper discusses the copyright status of databases and addresses how the US and European copyright applies to these kinds of works.

This document is part of a series of white papers on various copyright issues. Fair use is a powerful tool for people who want to use and expand on copyrighted works. Fair use is special among the other copyright exceptions because it isn’t specifically targeted at one kind of use. Instead, fair use is purposely open ended to permit many different kinds of uses. One downside of this however, is that it can be difficult for anyone — lawyer and nonlawyer alike — to figure what is/isn’t fair use under the law. This white paper attempts to review the fair use statute, go over its famous “four factor test,” and offers some suggestions about how to think through each part.