What is a copyright?

A copyright is a collection of rights that belong exclusively to the copyright owner. Copyright laws are intended to encourage the creation of new material by assuring that the work of creative individuals is protected. A copyright holder has five exclusive rights. These include the right to:

• Reproduce the work
• Prepare derivative works (works derived from the original work such as abridgments, translations, or other adaptations)
• Distribute the work
• Perform the work
• Display the work
  

Just like other forms of property, only the owner or administrator of a copyright has authority to allow another person to exercise any of the owner's exclusive rights. Sometimes the owner of the copyright is the creator of the work; other times, the owner is a publisher or organization that has been assigned the rights. To determine who holds the copyright, look for the copyright notice: the word copyright (or the symbol "©" or abbreviation "copyr."), a year, and the name of the copyright owner.

The length of copyright protection varies according to when the work was created. While specific circumstances determine the exact duration of the copyright, works created:

Prior to 1978 may be protected for 95 years.
In 1978 or later generally are protected for the author's lifetime plus 70 years.
Works that are not protected by copyright are said to be in the "public domain."

Churches, schools, and other organizations are not exempt from the copyright law. Nonprofit status does not exempt an organization from following the copyright law.

What is "fair use"?

Ordinarily, only the copyright holder may exercise any of the exclusive rights of copyright ownership. Under very limited circumstances, someone other than the copyright holder may exercise one of these rights. This appropriate use of copyrighted material without prior permission is called a "fair use."

The copyright law does not clearly define the limits of fair use, but it does list the following points that must be considered when determining if a proposed use of an exclusive right falls within the scope of a fair use:

• The purpose and character of the use. (Situations where the user gains from the use of copyrighted material without paying for it are typically outside the bounds of fair use.)
  
  
• The nature of the copyrighted work. (Facts and other compilations of data ordinarily may be reproduced more freely than fiction, poetry, music, or other similar material.)
  
  
• The amount and substantiality of the material used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole. (Even a seemingly small amount of material may represent a substantial portion of a work. For example, one stanza of a two-stanza hymn text represents fifty percent of a copyrighted work.)
  
  
• The effect of the use on the value of the existing work. (Copying may not compete with or replace the purchase of the original copyrighted use.)

The copyright law also states that reproducing a copyrighted work for "criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research" is not an infringement of the copyright holder's rights. Many situations that frequently occur in churches and schools are outside the fair use limits. All copying, including that done by churches and schools, is subject to the limits of fair use.

-From the Augsburg Fortress online Guide to Copyright. © 2003, Augsburg Fortress.

What does this mean for you?

It means you may only reproduce works you buy from LeaderResources during the time of your license or membership.

It means you also may not use these works outside a licensed context (i.e. in another church or after your license has expired) without permission. Fair use doesn't apply to using our resources, only to writing about them or teaching about them.

It means you must get written permission before quoting any text from a LeaderResources publication in another publication you plan to sell.