Exemptions for Higher Education

The rights of copyright owners are exclusive, but are not unlimited. There are many provisions of the Copyright Act that place important limits on the owner's rights. If the purpose of copyright law was to maximize profits for copyright owners, limits would be unnecessary, and copyright owners could control every use of their works. However, the function of copyright law is to increase knowledge, so some limits are necessary.

Exemptions (limits) of particular importance to the University community include the following:

• Section 107 permits fair use of works without the owner's permission.  See also the Fair Use section.
• Section 108 permits libraries to archive works, make copies for users and to participate in interlibrary loan operations, among other things.  See also the Libraries section.
• Section 109 permits individuals to dispose of copies of a work without regard to the wishes or income of the copyright owner. This provision is called the first sale doctrine, and is the backbone of the public library system.  It is one of the principle ways that copyright law achieves its purpose to facilitate public access to the ideas contained in copyrighted works.
• Section 110 permits certain educational performances and displays in face-to-face teaching and in distance learning.
• Section 121 permits agencies such as the Wisconsin Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired to make copies without permission where the copyright owner has chosen not to make available special versions for the disabled.