Copyright

Many university libraries offer guidelines, tutorials, or other resources to assist students and faculty in understanding copyright law and how it applies to the production and use of scholarly material. In addition to consulting your own institution’s resources, the links below may offer helpful information. Copyright law differs from country to country, so links are grouped according to geography. Links will be added and updated periodically.

Also see NDLTD's Intellectual Property and Open Access resources.

General Information on Copyright Law (International Perspectives)

• BISA Copyright Review (2008),  a brief overview of copyright policies in Brazil, India, and South Africa. (PDF)
• Copyright for Librarians, an online course from Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society
• Creative Commons
• Database of International Copyright Law
• Directory of Intellectual Property Offices by country This may be helpful in connecting interested researchers with details of international copyright law.)
• University of Washington Statement on International Copyright Law
• U.S. Office of Copyright
• World Intellectual Property Organization, an agency of the United Nations focused on developing an international intellectual property system

Africa

• South African Copyright Resources compiled by the Shuttleworth Foundation

Asia

• Copyright Research and Information Center of Japan (English) (Japanese)

Australia and Oceania

Europe

• The EThOS Toolkit (UK)—Copyright factsheet
• Guidelines on Copyright and Academic Research (British Academy)
• SHERPA: Guidance,  a web page providing guidance on copyright, open access and other issues for authors, including its RoMEO service, which summarizes publisher’s copyright and self-archiving policies.

 North America

• American University’s Program on International Justice and Intellectual Property
• Canadian Intellectual Property Office: A Guide to Copyrights
• Creative Commons Canada: Canadian Copyright Law page
• Columbia University’s Copyright information site
• EDUCAUSE tutorials on Copyright issues
• Ohio State University’s Copyright information site
• University of Michigan—a simple guide to Copyright basics
• University of Washington’s guide to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998

South America