Woodson Research Center: Copyright/Fair Use

Woodson staff can assist you in determining copyright status, although primary responsibility for pursuing this information rests with the researcher. The Woodson Research Center can grant permission to publish for Rice copyrighted materials in its collections, but not for materials with copyright held by others.

The Woodson Research Center use policy is that researchers assume sole responsibility for any infringement of privacy,  literary rights, copyrights, or other rights arising from their use of the archival materials. 

Contact Woodson staff regarding the status of the specific material in question.

• In some cases, copyright is held by the WRC or Rice University.
• In many cases, copyright is held by the original creator of the material.
• In other cases, materials are in the public domain and are not under any copyright.

Fair Use Doctrine: The fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies..., for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include:

• the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes 
• the nature of the copyrighted work 
• the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole 
• the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. 
• Taken from https://www.loc.gov/flicc/gc/fairuse.html

Links for helping to determine copyright status, reproduction, and fair use terms:

• Fair Use Evaluator (a tool for evaluating your case for fair use of an item, and documenting your reasoning)
• Copyright Flowchart (a workflow for asking yourself questions when seeking to publish an item)