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This document defines the ten rights statement assignments used at the Science History Institute and explains their usage.

Last Updated: 12 April 2023

Annabel Pinkney, Digital Collections Librarian

SECTION I: UNLIMITED RE-USE (NO COPYRIGHT WORKS)

Works assigned any of the following statements are ingested into DPLA and Wikimedia Commons. Items in this category have no known restrictions and may be freely used and modified without permission. Attribution may be required depending on the specific rights statement applied to the item.

PUBLIC DOMAIN

Status Source: Creative Commons, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

Includes works that have been identified as being free of any known restrictions under copyright law. Apply this statement if any of the following applies:

  • The work was created by the United States Government. Be mindful of specific government branches or operations, such as the United States Postal Service (see No Copyright – Educational Use Permitted), which maintains the right to hold copyright of their creations.

OR

  • If the work was created over 200 years ago.

OR  

  • The work was created in the United States

AND, one of the following:

  • It was published over 95 years ago.
  • It is an unpublished work whose creator died more than 70 years ago.
  • It is unpublished with an Anonymous, Pseudonymous, or Corporate Creator and created over 120 years ago.
  • It was published less than 95 years ago and fails to meet formality requirements (depending on the date of creation/publication).

NO COPYRIGHT – UNITED STATES

Status source: http://RightsStatements.org

Includes works considered to be in the Public Domain in the United States but created in another country. At the Science History Institute, this statement should be applied to works created in member countries of the Berne Convention or the European Union so that we can generally deduce whether it is copyright-free in the country of origin. It is the user’s responsibility to research the copyright law of the country of origin to precisely determine whether their use is fair. Use Copyright Undetermined for works created in countries outside of these conventions (besides the United States).

To assign this category, the work must meet the following requirements:

  • Created outside of the United States
  • Created in a country associated with the European Union or the Berne Convention

AND, one of the following:

  • Published (rights belong to publisher) over 50 (Berne)/70 (EU) years ago
  • Creator (who holds copyrights) deceased over 50 (Berne)/70 (EU) years ago

If the work was created in a country that is neither in the European Union nor a member of the Berne Convention, refer to the copyright laws specific to that country.

For unknown creators, see No Known Copyright.

For creators who died less than 50/70 years ago, see In Copyright – Unknown Rightsholders.

NO KNOWN COPYRIGHT

Status Source: https://rightsstatements.org/page/NKC/1.0/?language=en

Includes works whose copyright determination could not be fully verified but are very likely to be out of copyright protection.

For works created over 95 years ago, apply this statement if one of the following applies:

  • The creator of an unpublished work is unknown
  • The death date of the creator of an unpublished work is unknown
  • The publication status of the work is unknown, it was created in the United States, and it was created over 120 years ago.

For works whose exact date is unknown, apply this statement if they were very likely created over 120 years ago.

This statement may also be applied when a work has a copyright notice, but no evidence of copyright renewal. After the copyright renewals database has been reviewed thoroughly, then the statement should be revised to Public Domain or In Copyright.

CC-BY

Status Source: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This status is an exception to the Unlimited Re-Use category, as these works are technically still in copyright. However, in these cases, copyright is held by the Science History Institute giving us the right to license the work for free use. This license allows for free use but requires an attribution back to the Institute.

To assign this category, the work must meet the following requirements:

  • Work is an “artistically” staged object taken by an Institute staff member.

OR

  • Copyrights were transferred to the Institute by the copyright holder (typically the creator of the work).

SECTION II: RE-USE, NO MODIFICATION

Items in this category may be used in their current form without permission if the user complies with stated conditions attached to the item. Works assigned any of the following statements are ingested into DPLA, but not Wikimedia Commons.

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Status Source: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

This status is also applied to works for which copyright is totally or partially held by the Science History Institute and have been created in tandem with other parties. This license prohibits use for commercial purposes and the creation of derivative works.

This license is only applied to Oral History interviews to protect the personal interests and privacy of interviewees.

NO COPYRIGHT – OTHER KNOWN LEGAL RESTRICTIONS

Status Source: https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-OKLR/1.0/?language=en

Includes works without copyright restrictions, but other legal restrictions.

For example, this statement is used to describe the usage conditions of several photographs from the Records of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory - Nuclear Division collection. These photographs are free of copyright, as they were created by a United States government entity, however the University of California, as the Department of Energy contractor of the LBNL, has asserted a continuing legal interest in the digital versions of the images. They have stipulated that anyone intending to use this digital image for commercial purposes, including textbooks, commercial materials, and periodicals, must obtain prior permission from the University of California-Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, through photo@lbl.gov

Items to which this statement is applied will not be ingested into DPLA or Wikimedia.

IN COPYRIGHT – EDUCATIONAL USE PERMITTED

Status Source: https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/?language=en

Includes works protected by copyright and/or related rights for which no permission is required from the rights-holder(s) for educational uses. i.e., noncommercial, educational uses limited to teaching, scholarship, and research.

For example, this statement is used to describe the usage conditions of United States stamps created after 1 January 1978 (the date on which the Copyright Act of 1976 went into effect). These stamps are Copyrighted by the United States Postal Service; however, no prior permission is required for educational purposes as defined above.

SECTION III: UNSPECIFIED

Includes works for which there is no possible way of determining copyright status, i.e., items without an associated standardized rights statement or license. Items in this category may be used under fair use. Works assigned any of the following statements are ingested into DPLA, but not Wikimedia Commons.

COPYRIGHT UNDETERMINED

Includes works for which there is no possible way of determining copyright status.

This rights status is applied to works for which there is no known way to determine an accurate copyright statement. It is the user’s responsibility to determine whether their use of the work falls under fair use.

Typically, this statement is applied to works created between 95 years ago and 1987 for which the publication status is unknown. Without knowledge of the publication status, it is impossible to know if formalities were required/fulfilled, or if the death date of the creator would impact the copyright status.

SECTION IV: COPYRIGHTED WORKS

Items in this category are in copyright with no restrictions waived (“all rights reserved”). Items may be used by seeking permission from the rights-holder or under fair use (see the ‘More Information’ section for details). Works assigned any of the following statements are ingested into DPLA, but not Wikimedia Commons.

IN COPYRIGHT – RIGHTSHOLDERS UNKNOWN

Status Source: https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-RUU/1.0/?language=en

Used when an item falls within Copyright protection, but the legal owner of the copyrights is unknown or unidentifiable.

  • Unpublished works whose creator died less than 70 years ago (or less than 50 years ago if created in a member country of the Berne Convention) AND when the beneficiary of the creator’s estate is unknown.
  • Works published with formalities less than 95 years ago with unknown creators (treated as anonymous works, entering the public domain 120 years after creation).

IN COPYRIGHT

Status Source: https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en

Includes items protected by copyright and/or related rights. To assign this category, the work must meet the following requirements:

  • The copyright holder is a known person or corporate entity.
  • Work published between 95 years ago and 1989 and meets specified formality requirements of the respective date of publication.
  • Unpublished works created between 120 years ago – the present day with a known, living creator OR a known living beneficiary of a creator who died less than 70 years ago.
  • All works created post-2002.

RESOURCES:

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