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Copyright Term and the Public Domain | Other Copyright Tools | Copyright Guides 

Scroll down to find exhaustive copyright term information.

Copyright Term and the Public Domain 

First created by Peter B. Hirtle and maintained by Cornell.  Link to site.  For those in my copyright class, there is also an excellent table on p. 205.

Other Copyright Tools

Compliance Tools

• American Library Association Copyright Tools
• UMKC Fair Use Checklist

Licensing and Historical Registration Tools

• ♦US Copyright Office Public Catalog (1978 to Present)
  • For an alternative catalog (the world's largest online catalog, see OCLC Worldcat)
• US Copyright Office Records - Records are in various states (some digital, some in print, and some being digitized)
• US Copyright Circulars
  • Circular 22, How to Investigate the Status of A Work
  • Circular 23, The Copyright Card Catalog and the Online Files of the Copyright Office
• ♦Stanford Copyright Renewal and Book Database - Use to check for copyright renewal of books only
• ♦Hathi Trust, U.S. Copyright Office, Catalog of Copyright Entries - Use to check for copyright renewals from 1891-1978
  • Internet Archive (alternative copy of Catalog of Copyright Entries)
  • Google Books (another alternative for Catalog of Copyright Entries)
• IMDb - Movie and TV database
• MoviePosterDB -Database of Movie Posters
• HarryFox Agency - contains tools for calculating compulsory licenses ("royalty licenses explained"), licensing cover songs, and licensing songs for videos.  "A cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a previously recorded, commercially released song by someone other than the original artist or composer."  Cover version, Wikipedia (2016).  Rather than compulsory licenses under 17 USC § 115, "Harry Fox agency has emerged as the private commercial entity that grants mechanical reproduction licenses, collects and distributes royalties, and enforces copyright infringement claims."  Alfred C. Yen & Joseph P. Liu, Copyright Law 323 (2016 3rd ed.).  Section 115 continues to act as a ceiling on royalty rates.
• Lumens - Take-down notice database (formerly "Chilling Effects Clearing House")

Free or Non-Commercially Licensed Materials

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  • Share Your Work (license your work with pre-formatted licenses to place in the public domain, educational use, free commercial use, etc.)
  • Use and remix other creative commons licensed works.
•  GNU Public Licenses (software and documents)

Copyright Guides

• UMKC Copyright Guide - Rather than legal research, this excellent guide focuses on copyright compliance issues for higher education and libraries.
• University of Columbia (NY) Copyright Basics - Also focusing on higher education.
• Music Copyright Infringement Resource - Analysis of music copyright, including historical and current case law on the issue.