Rights Guide for Faculty

This guide is maintained by St. Olaf College Library staff, who are librarians, not lawyers. The information on this guide is not legal advice.

Copyright is the legal right (usually assigned to the creator, sometimes assigned to a publisher or employer) to print, publish, perform, record, and otherwise profit from their creative material. Copyright is similar to, but not the same as, patents or trademarks. Remember, copyright laws vary from country to country; information on St. Olaf guides pertains to the United States.

Here is the complete U.S. copyright code.

Alternatively, Columbia University has a very useful copyright guide.