Principles of the Policy/Policy Statement

The Copyright Policy affirms Washington College’s commitment to comply with United States copyright law. Washington College community will:

• respect faithfully the property rights of authors and their assignees; and
• exercise vigorously our rights and responsibilities as teachers, scholars, authors, and creators in educating students, creating new works of pedagogy, scholarship, and art, and sharing those works with a wider community.

This Policy outlines the main principles of the copyright law, provides guidelines to assist members of the faculty, staff, and students to distinguish between compliant and non-compliant use of copyrighted materials, and recommends a variety of tools by which faculty, staff, and students can learn more about copyright law.

This policy also affirms that intellectual works eligible for copyright protection created by the faculty and students of the College in the course of their academic pursuits (including most courseware, syllabi, textbooks, scholarly monographs, trade publications, maps, charts, articles in popular magazines and newspapers, novels, nonfiction works, supporting materials, artistic works, and like works) are owned by their creator(s) and that any revenue derived from their work likewise belongs to the creator(s). However, unless otherwise agreed in writing between the creator(s) and the College, the College’s use of this material shall be royalty-free.

In general, non-academic work created by faculty, staff, or students in fulfillment of their paid responsibilities, known as “work for hire” is owned by the College.

Faculty members and supervisors must abide by the rules governing photocopying and duplication of copyright protected materials and are accountable for any such copying delegated to support staff or students. At no time will an academic support assistant or a student employee reproducing or circulating copyright-protected material in accordance with a faculty member’s or supervisor’s written or verbal instructions be assumed liable for any failure to adhere to copyright law.

The College will make every effort to educate members of the campus community about copyright law and rights available under that law and will provide resources for helping the community understand copyright law. In all cases, Washington College expects all members of the College community to exercise informed judgment and to comply with copyright laws. Members of the Washington College Community who willfully disregard the copyright law shall be held accountable for their actions.