The table below describes the standard MIT Libraries’ copyright and access statements, as they appear in association with the Libraries’ digital objects.
The copyright statements provide information on the copyright owner or copyright status of the work; the access statements provide information on how the work may be used.
| Copyright Statement | Description |
|---|---|
| Blank field | If there is no rights statement, then information about copyright may be unavailable or incomplete. In such cases, the MIT Libraries do not provide copyright information; it is your responsibility to conduct research and make your own determination. |
| c Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Items marked as copyrighted to MIT may have been originally authored by MIT (see MIT's Information Policies) or copyright could have been transferred to MIT through a written agreement. MIT is the copyright holder. |
| c [rightsholder name] | Items marked as copyrighted to a particular entity or person may have been originally authored by that entity or copyright could have been transferred to that entity through a written agreement. The entity named is the copyright holder. |
| Public Domain | A work is in the ‘public domain’ if it is no longer under copyright protection or if it failed to meet the requirements for copyright protection. Under US copyright law, works in the public domain may be used freely without the permission of the former copyright owner. |
| Access Statement | Description |
| All rights reserved | The copyright holder has not assigned or licensed any of their exclusive rights. This means that unless you have made a Fair Use case for your use or some other exception applies (e.g. classroom use), the copyright holder must be contacted and permission received in order to copy, distribute, perform, or display the copyrighted work. |
| Creative Commons licenses (e.g. CC-BY-NC) | A Creative Commons license allows the copyright holder to keep their copyright and to allow others to copy and distribute the work, provided they follow all of the conditions specified by the license. Creative Commons licenses build upon traditional copyright practices to offer possibilities that exist between "all rights reserved" and the public domain. The CC-BY-NC license, an Attribution NonCommercial license, is the CC license the MIT Libraries use whenever possible. It lets others use, copy, distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon a work, as long as the new works acknowledge the copyright holder and are used for non-commercial purposes. |
| Licensed for educational and research use by the MIT community | Materials are made available under a license (a legal contract) that gives permission for the MIT community to use the works for educational and research purposes. |
| No copyright restrictions | May be used freely without the permission of the former copyright owner; phrase is used when work is in the Public Domain. |
For questions, send an email to the MIT Libraries’ copyright-lib list.
Statements last updated September 2012.
