Once you submit your list of copyrighted materials to us, we forward that list to our permissions department. This step is necessary in order to comply with the Copyright Act of 1976, which bans the reproduction of any “original works of authorship” without the direct permission of the author(s) or publisher.

Permissions department staff members use every resource available in their effort to contact the appropriate rights holder for each copyrighted item. Once these rights holders are contacted, we request permission on your behalf to use copyrighted materials in your custom text and then work diligently to provide you with timely copyright clearance. Once clearance is received, all information is stored for quick and easy resubmission in future semesters.

The academic community takes the Copyright Act very seriously. However, users in an academic setting may overlook the impropriety of unauthorized copying or may misunderstand the copyright law, including the application and limitations of “fair use.” Unauthorized copying can violate the rights of the author(s) or publisher and put high schools, universities and colleges, as well as their faculty members, copy centers, and bookstores, at legal risk.