Intellectual Property

The federal copyright laws exist to "promote the useful arts and sciences" as well as to protect the ownership rights of copyright holders. The law seeks a balance between higher education's need to easily access and use information for scholarship and the right of the owners of the information to exercise reasonable control of its use. Macalester College shares that goal and is bound by copyright laws. Macalester College will take all appropriate measures to ensure that its students, faculty and staff are aware of copyright laws, regulations and agreements and act responsibly as they use information which may be owned by others in the course of teaching, learning or administration of the College. This includes, for example, notification of copyright restrictions at point of use (such as copying machines), promulgation of a detailed copyright policy, and periodic reminders to the community of their responsibilities.

In the case of the Web, it is all too easy to copy and incorporate textual, graphic and sound files from other sources into one's own site without realizing that there is an ownership issue. Before copying, Macalester community members are obligated to ask permission of information owners whenever it is not clear that the owners intend for their information to be shared freely. The information owner may accept a simple e-mail enquiry asking permission to copy and specifying the purpose. Major print publishers may require a letter and may charge a fee to be paid directly to them or to the Copyright Clearance Center. The Library or Duplication Services can explain the process.

Similarly, Web developers using Macalester resources may not make files available through the College network in violation of trademark or the terms of any license agreement.

Commercial and Partisan Uses

Copyright

Intellectual Property

Ownership and Responsiblity

Responsible Use

Web Policies


CIT Policies

Library Policies