Media Services intends to stay within the guidelines of Copyright Law and Fair Use in all media productions, including media duplication. Our policies are based on our interpretation of the laws, guidelines, and common practices regarding duplication services. Media Services does not provide legal advice for faculty, staff, or students. Media Services will not duplicate or reformat any copyrighted work without legal clearance. The responsibility for acquiring copyright clearance for duplication in any format rests with the client.
Please direct specific questions about copyright issues to NIU's Office of General Counsel at 815-753-8365.
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Chapter 1, Section 108 (1.1MB .PDF file) of the Copyright Law discusses duplication of entire works of copyrighted media materials. This procedure is generally restricted to libraries and archival institutions. Fair Use depends on several factors including:
What this means to Media Services and our clients
We will not duplicate entire copyrighted works into different formats as long as there are commercially available copies on the market. We can copy portions of copyrighted works and incorporate them into instructional multimedia formats under the provisions of Fair Use. Clients wishing to duplicate and/or change formats of entire copyrighted works must first contact the University Library to determine the availability of these works on the commercial market. Call David Lonergan at the University Libraries at 753-9866 for information regarding the current availability of films and videos in new formats.
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