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Library Grand Rounds

Copyright and Fair Use: What Clinicians
and Educators Need to Know
Robert B. Donin, General Counsel, Dartmouth College
December 19, 2002

True or False?

  • The parameters of "copyright" and "fair use" are defined by the U.S. Constitution.

  • Copyright doesn't apply to digital (electronic) works (and works transformed into a digital format).

  • If an author dies, her work moves into "public domain" (i.e., is not copyrightable).

  • Institutions and other corporate entities can't be copyright-holders.

  • "Fair use" means that educators can use copyrighted content in any educational setting.

  • Authors automatically hold copyright to the articles they write, and/or can use that content in any way they wish.

Want the answers to the above? Want answers to your questions about copyright and fair use? Wondering if you need to secure copyright permission before dropping that image - chart, picture, graph - into your PowerPoint presentation? If you can provide the full text of your recent journal articles on your Web site? What do clinicians/educators need to know about copyright and fair use, really?

Bob Donin, General Counsel for Dartmouth College (including the Dartmouth Medical School) presented a brief tutorial on copyright and fair use, and ran through some real-life cases relevant to your work.

We encouraged folks to send us questions about copyright and fair use - real situations you've faced or believe you may face. We selected several and presented brief case studies as part of the Grand Rounds.

The purpose of this Library Grand Rounds is not to make lawyers of you all, but rather to:

  • help you become more comfortable with the concepts of copyright, fair use, and other areas germane to use of "intellectual property."

  • help you know when you should seek advice.

  • introduce you to information resources sponsored both by Dartmouth and by other entities.

Library Grand Rounds are a forum for presenting information resources and tools of interest to Dartmouth clinicians. Please contact us biomedical.libraries.education@dartmouth.edu, if you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future Library Grand Rounds.