Greenville Technical College Libraries maintains this guide to provide a resource for copyright-related information and services. The information presented in this guide is for information purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for actual legal advice. Please consult an expert in copyright law for legal advice.
Greenville Technical College provides an administrative policy on copyright and intellectual property and a copyright compliance form to help employees, students, and others document efforts to properly use copyrighted materials and comply with United States Copyright Law (Title 17, United States Code, Sect 101, et seq.).
GTC faculty, staff, and students do not have permission to copy or distribute inclusive access materials provided by the Bookstore. Publisher and vendor agreements only allow digital access by individuals that have purchased the content.
United States Copyright Law (Title 17 of the United States Code) protects authors or creators of various published and unpublished works. Except as allowed by this code, it is a violation of law for persons to copy, distribute, perform, digitally transmit, or to create a new work based upon a copyrighted work without the permission of the copyright owner.
Copyright does not protect ideas, titles, names, short phrases, works in the public domain, forms that collect information, or links to websites. It does protect "forms of expressions" delivered in the following formats:
Copyright law gives an author/creator the exclusive rights to:
It is not necessary for an author/creator to register a work with the Copyright Office in order to copyright it, nor is it still necessary to include a copyright notice.
The U.S. Copyright Office is an agency of the federal government.
Copyright Basics
A helpful guide from the U.S. Copyright Office
Frequently Asked Questions
FAQs from the U.S. Copyright Office
Learn how to register your original works with the U.S. Copyright Office
Public Domain Slider, Section 108 Spinner, Fair Use Evaluator, and Exceptions for Instructors eTool by the American Library Association
Cornell University School of Law's keyword-searchable index to Title 17
Explains fair use and provides analysis resources and examples to help you evaluate whether fair use can be acceptably applied to your circumstances.
Exceptions for Instructors
Self-guided evaluation of instructor planned copyright use by the American Library Association
TEACH Act
Brief guide to the TEACH Act by the Copyright Clearance Center
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
18-page summary of the original 60-page DMCA of 1998
Search the University of Texas' WATCH database to find out who holds copyrights and how to contact to ask permission
Contact the Greenville Technical College Copyright Officer :
Tara Weekes
Director of Learning Resources
Barton Campus, Building 105, Room 129
(864) 236-6500
Tara.Weekes@gvltec.edu