Library Tutorial - Information Ethics - Intellectual Property

In the world of patents and inventions a person who invents a new household tool has the legal and moral right to sell it and benefit from the proceeds. The creator of information has the same rights and benefits. There are proper and improper ways of using this information and no one has the right to steal it, infringe on copyright or plagiarize. McConnell Library makes available for use a great deal of information in the form of books, databases, and other kinds of electronic materials for the Radford University community. It is important that you are able to use this information legally and ethically.

Intellectual Property: Industrial Property and Copyright

Intellectual property is defined by the World Intellectual Property Organization as creations of the mind.

Items considered to be intellectual property are:

• inventions
• literary and artistic works - books, plays, films, musical works, drawings, paintings, photographs, sculptures
• trademarks such as symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce

Those who have created intellectual property are viewed as possessing legal ownership of this property and their rights are protected by copyright. Some of these rights are highlighted here:

• For a specific time, which can be the author's life time plus 70 years, the laws give the creator the exclusive privilege to make copies, perform, broadcast, or record for publication and sale.
• These privileges can be sold or transferred to other people or corporations.
• If you infringe on a copyright by stealing information, the holder of the copyright can sue you. 

 (World Intellectual Property Organization.  June 2000.  New York.  July 9, 2001. <http://www.wipo.org/about-ip/en/about_copyright.html>.)

The issues related to copyright of computer software, digitized images, and other products and sources are becoming more and more complicated. It falls to the courts to interpret current law as applicable to these technologies or to Congress to enact new laws. Some cases have not yet been adequately interpreted by the courts. Even though there is some disagreement over proper usage of some materials, there seems to be consensus that documents, images and sounds on the WWW have been fixed in digital form and should be considered copyrighted.  

To legally use someone else's intellectual property you must seek, and often pay for, that person's permission, just like you would ask a neighbor's permission before borrowing his car.  McConnell Library and the Virtual Library of Virginia license information resources at a cost in the millions of dollars for University use.  Databases, electronic journals, images, and sounds are all made available through licenses This expensive information made available through the library web page is a valuable resource not available to other citizens of the state.  All of this information is someone's intellectual property and must be used properly.  You cannot legally download a database and try to sell it or pass off work accessed here as your own.  As an academic community, a part of the copyright law known as "fair use" saves us from being forced to ask every author or database company for permission to quote or use small amounts of material. 

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