Scholarly Communication: University of Mississippi Libraries

Scholarly Communication: Retaining Your Copyright

As an author, you own the copy right to your work unless you sign that copyright over to a another party.

What is Covered by Copyright?

Any content you create

articles, theses, books
scripts
art work
emails
lecture notes

Must be in a tangible format

What is not covered by Copyright?

Facts
Ideas
Lists, e.g. telephone book
Public domain materials

What do I have to do to keep my copyright?

Nothing. Copyright protection is automatic.
If you wish, you can register with the U.S. Copyright Office http://www.copyright.gov
You also may provide a Copyright notice, e.g. © 2009 your name

What rights does the Copyright Law provide?

Author’s Bundle of 5 Rights

Right to Reproduce
Right to Prepare Derivative Works
Right to Distribute
Right to Display Publicly
Right to Perform Publicly

And by default, the right to authorize others to exercise any of these rights

What happens when I sign a Publisher’s Agreement?

You may unknowingly sign away all your personal rights, except Fair Use
You may have to request permission to:

use your own works for a course pack,
store a copy on your web site
distribute a copy to colleagues.

Your library or university may have to purchase back your content for patron use

So, what should I do?

Retain ownership of your content.
Transfer only *some* of your rights to the publisher.

What Rights to I Need to Retain?

The Author’s 5 Basic Rights in connection to any personal, professional or non-profit educational activities.
The right to grant the Author’s home institution any of the 5 Basic Rights.

How do I retain my rights?

Never sign a Publishing Agreement without reading and understanding the content.

Negotiate with your publisher to grant only those rights needed for their publication.

Retain all other rights, specifying those of particular value to you or your institution.

I’m not a lawyer. Is there an easy way to do this?

Yes. Complete and sign one of the following sample Addenda.

Sign the Publishing Agreement

Below your signature write “Subject to Attached Addendum.”

Attach the Addendum and return to the publisher for signature.

SPARC Author’s Addendum

Available at http://www.arl.org/sparc/author/addendum.shtml

Developed for SPARC by Michael Carroll of the Villanova University School of Law

Includes instructions on how to use it.

Indiana University Addenda

Available at http://www-lib.iupui.edu/copyright

Addendum A Spells out specific rights retained by the Author.

Addendum B Describes in general terms the rights retained by the Author and the Author’s home institution.

How can I tell what my journal publisher allows?
Summaries of many journal publishers’ policies are available at the SHERPA site at http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo.php. Search on the publisher's name or the journal title to see information on the publisher’s policies.

Partly based on a presentation by Trisha L. Davis, Ohio State University Libraries