Copyright and Fair Use

Welcome. This resource for the NYU community is intended to provide guidance and information on copyright and its relationship to academic life. NYU faculty, staff, and students use copyrighted materials every day – in research, as course materials, in classroom teaching, or on the web. Members of the NYU community not only use copyrighted works, but create them as well.

Determining your rights and obligations under copyright law can be a complicated undertaking. While the law recognizes many educational uses of copyrighted works as Fair Use, the applicability and scope of Fair Use can sometimes be unclear. When creating new works, authors have an array of options for managing their copyrights and making their work accessible to others.

This site offers information on NYU’s policies and guidelines, as well as copyright-related services and support available from NYU Libraries, ITS, NYU Bookstores, and the Office of General Counsel. If you have questions about how to use copyrighted materials or about your rights as a copyright owner, we hope you’ll find the answers here. If not, please contact us!

• Services for Teaching & Research
• NYU Policies & Guidelines

Services for Teaching & Research

NYU Libraries, NYU Bookstores, ITS, and the Office of General Counsel together offer a range of copyright-related services to NYU faculty, staff, and students.  These services have been developed to address both the use of copyrighted works in teaching and research and the creation of copyrighted works by members of the NYU community.

• NYU Libraries Linking Service: NYU Libraries licenses many journals, newspapers, other publications, still and moving images, and audio content for use as course materials.  These materials can be made available to students on Course Reserves, Blackboard, or other NYU course sites – without incurring the copyright permissions costs associated with Coursepacks – through the NYU Libraries Linking Service.  If you need assistance in determining whether material has been licensed by the library, please Ask-a-Librarian. 
• NYU Bookstores Coursepack Service: NYU Bookstores Coursepack Service clears copyright permissions and provides protection from liability for copyright infringement to NYU and individual faculty members.  The Coursepack Service can also be used to obtain permission for creating electronic coursepacks on Blackboard or other NYU course sites.  NYU policy requires that faculty creating Coursepacks utilize the Coursepack preparation service provided by NYU Bookstores.  Before obtaining permission through NYU Bookstores, faculty should consult with NYU Libraries to see whether the material can be offered through NYU Libraries Linking Service.  
• NYU Libraries Permissions Support:  NYU Libraries is available to assist faculty in seeking permission to use a wide variety of copyrighted materials beyond those typically managed through the Coursepack Service.  NYU Libraries can help to identify the copyright holder and assist in obtaining permission or interpreting Fair Use guidelines.  For more information, please refer to Requesting Permission, or contact NYU Libraries.  Alternatively, you may wish to secure permission directly by using the sample permission letters. 
• Using Copyrighted Works & Applying Fair Use: The Handbook for Use of Copyrighted Materials, Statement of Policy on Photocopying Copyrighted Materials, and Copyright FAQs can provide basic guidance to faculty members on how to use copyrighted works and apply Fair Use in their teaching and research.  For specific questions or issues, please contact NYU Libraries, which can in turn consult with the Office of General Counsel when appropriate.  Questions can also be submitted to NYU’s Fair Use Listserv, fairuse@nyu.edu.  All questions will be reviewed by members of NYU administration and responded to promptly.               
• Managing Your Copyrights: When publishing your scholarly work, there are a range of options available to enable you to share your work with the academic community and the general public.  NYU Libraries is available help faculty understand the copyright implications of publication agreements and their rights as authors.  For more information or to arrange for a consultation on how to effectively manage your copyrights, please refer to Managing Your Copyrights or contact NYU Libraries.   

NYU Policies & Guidelines

The use and creation of copyrighted materials affects many aspects of day-to-day life at NYU.  The policies and guidelines collected below have been developed to help faculty, staff, and students understand their rights and obligations under copyright law.

• Handbook for Use of Copyrighted Materials: The Handbook for Use of Copyrighted Materials provides additional guidance to the NYU community on using copyrighted works and applying Fair Use. Questions regarding copyright and Fair Use can be sent to fairuse@nyu.edu.  All questions will be reviewed and responded to promptly.      
• NYU Coursepacks: NYU policy requires that faculty creating Coursepacks utilize the Coursepack preparation service provided by NYU Bookstores. NYU Bookstores Coursepack Service clears copyright permissions and provides protection from liability for copyright infringement to NYU and individual faculty members. The Coursepack Service can also be used to obtain permission for creating electronic coursepacks on Blackboard or other NYU course sites.
• Statement of Policy on Photocopying Copyrighted Materials: The Statement of Policy on Photocopying Materials in the Faculty Handbook provides basic information to faculty and staff about how to use copyrighted materials in educational and research activities at NYU.  This Statement of Policy sets forth guidelines on when it is necessary to obtain permission from the copyright holder (including NYU’s policy regarding Coursepacks), and when copyrighted materials may be used without permission based on “Fair Use” or other copyright exceptions. For assistance with interpreting or applying this Statement of Policy, please contact NYU Libraries, which can in turn consult with the Office of General Counsel when appropriate.
• Statement of Policy on Copyrights: The Statement of Policy on Copyrights in the Faculty Handbook addresses the distribution of rights in and to copyrightable materials created by NYU faculty members.
• Policy on Responsible Use of NYU Computers & Data: Users of NYU computers, data, and networks are responsible for respecting the right of copyright owners. 
• ITS's Note on Illegal Downloading contains important information about NYU's policy on the downloading of copyrighted materials through file-sharing applications and peer-to-peer networks.
• ITS's Peer-to-Peer File (P2P) Sharing website has a thorough description of how P2P file sharing can infringe on content owner's copyrights, offers guidance on responding to copyright infringement complaints, and provides links to legal online content resources.