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Copyright Best Practices

Copyright Workflow for FST Posting to Canvas

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Copyright Best Practices for Faculty Posting to Course Site

Before posting materials on your course site, or having them copied for distribution, please consider copyright permissions issues.

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  1. Can you post or copy the material for class without getting prior permission from the copyright holder/publisher?   Yes, if you can answer “yes” to one of the following questions.
  2. Remember, it is always possible to link to material online or in Stanford-accessible databases—without any need for copyright permission.
  3. Don't forget hard copy Course Reserves! Multiple copies can be placed on Course Reserves at the library for the students to check out – with no copyright issues attached. Please contact circulation@law.stanford.edu to place materials on reserve.

[NOTE: While the Law Library is closed for COVID-19 measures, students will be unable to check out course reserves. ]

Copyright Workflow for FST Posting to Canvas

Before posting materials on Canvas, please apply the following workflow.

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Step 1: Course Instructor Makes a Decision about the Content to be Posted

Course Instructor must determine whether material (as opposed to just a hyperlink to the material) can be uploaded to Canvas.  To reach that determination, the instructor will consider the following four questions:

  1. Has permission or a license already been conferred from author/publisher/copyright holder?
    1. E.g. Instructor has obtained permission, or work is covered by Creative Commons license
    2. If yes, a copy of the permission grant should be furnished to FST assistant for record-keeping purposes.
  2. Is the material in the public domain?  (e.g. text of court opinions, Federal Gov’t pubs, copyright has expired)
    1. Public Domain FAQ: https://www.eff.org/teachingcopyright/handouts#publicdomainFAQ
  3. Is it fair use?  
    1. About Fair Use: https://copyright.columbia.edu/basics/fair-use.html
    2. Fair Use Checklist: https://copyright.columbia.edu/basics/fair-use/fair-use-checklist.html
    3. If assistance is needed making a fair use determination, Stanford’s General Counsel office can help: Yi-An Chen (yian@stanford.edu) https://library.stanford.edu/using/copyright-reminder
  4. Is the use subject to another copyright statutory exemption?  (e.g. TEACH Act, etc.)
    1. https://scholarworks.duke.edu/copyright-advice/copyright-in-teaching/

If the Course Instructor's answer to any of the above questions is "Yes," then the material itself, can be uploaded to Canvas.

Step 2: If the Answer to Each Step 1 Question was “No,” FST Must Either:

(a) Post a Link to the Content, Rather than Posting the Content, or

(b) Seek Permission via University Custom Publishing (UCP) or Copyright Clearance Center to Post the Content.

2(a):  Linking to content

If the material is a...

Court opinion:

  1. Check Google Scholar (using the "Case Law" button) or the relevant court's website to find copy of opinion, and copy link
  2. If professor prefers formatting of Westlaw or Lexis, enter case citation into Westlaw or Lexis' link builder tools

Law journal article:

  1. Google the article to see if a copy has been posted online.  If it has been posted online, copy and paste that link into Canvas.
  2. If it hasn’t been posted online, you can create links to law journal articles using Lexis or Westlaw. (See "FST Guide to Finding Links")
  3. Alternatively, post a copy of the law journal article retrieved from HeinOnline

Non-law journal article:

  1. Google the article to see if a copy has been posted as open-access, online.  If it has been posted online, copy and paste that link into Canvas.
  2. If it hasn’t been posted online, use SearchWorks (searchworks.stanford.edu), the University’s library catalog, to find an electronic copy of the journal.
  3. Check that you can retrieve the specific article from the Searchworks link, and then post the Searchworks record to Canvas. (See "FST Guide to Finding Links")

Newspaper/blog:

  1. Google the article to see if a copy has been posted online publicly for free.  If it has been posted online, copy and paste that link into Canvas.
  2. If it hasn’t been posted online publicly for free, you can create links to news content using Lexis, ProQuest, or another newspaper database. (See the "Major U.S. Newspapers" research guide or "FST Guide to Finding Links")

Book chapter:

  1. Use SearchWorks (searchworks.stanford.edu), the University’s library catalog, to determine whether there is an electronic book version available.  Follow catalog links to check that the electronic book is accessible, and then post the catalog link to Canvas.  
  2. If an electronic book version is not available, contact reference (reference@law.stanford.edu) for your options.
If you have trouble locating links, please contact reference@law.stanford.edu

 

2(b):  Seeking Permission for Content via University Custom Publishing (UCP) or Copyright Clearance Center (CCC).

FST Guide to Finding Links 

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I.  How to Find Links to Cases

1. Check free, online sources for the text of the opinion [e.g. Google Scholar (scholar.google.com) using the “case law” button, Justia (justia.com), or the official court website] by entering the opinion’s citation.  Copy hyperlink once opinion is retrieved.

2. If the Instructor prefers Westlaw or Lexis formatting for the opinion, you can create links to the case on Lexis/Westlaw using their link-builder tools.

  1. To create a link on Lexis:
    1. Go to http://www.lexisnexis.com/tutorials/Link_Builder_for_Lexis_Advance.html
    2. Enter the case citation (e.g. 27 Cal. 2d 478)
    3. Copy & paste link into Canvas
  2. To create a link on Westlaw:
    1. Enter the case’s citation (e.g. 27 Cal. 2d 478) in the “Link to a Specific Document” bar
    2. Go to https://lawschool.westlaw.com/admin/wllinkcreator/wllinkcreator.aspx
    3. Copy & paste link into Canvas

II.  How to Find Links to Law Journal Articles

  1. Google the article to see if a copy has been posted online.  If it has been posted online, copy and paste that link into Canvas.
  2. If it hasn’t been posted online, you can create links to law journal articles using Lexis or Westlaw.
    1. To create a link on Lexis:
      1. Go to http://www.lexisnexis.com/tutorials/Link_Builder_for_Lexis_Advance.html
      2. Enter the journal article’s citation (e.g. 53 Duke L.J. 1067) 
      3. Copy & paste link into Canvas
    2. To create a link on Westlaw:
      1. Go to https://lawschool.westlaw.com/admin/wllinkcreator/wllinkcreator.aspx
      2. Enter the journal article’s citation (e.g. 53 Duke L.J. 1067) in the “Link to a Specific Document” bar
      3. Copy & paste link into Canvas
  3. NOTE:  HeinOnline has provided express permission for SLS to post a PDF copy of, rather than a hyperlink to, law journal articles downloaded from on HeinOnline.  This is an alternative to using links to Lexis & Westlaw.  However, because of HeinOnline’s search interface, it is a bit more difficult to retrieve a law journal article from HeinOnline.
    1. From on-campus, go to heinonline.org. 
    2. Click “Log In.”  There is no password; clicking the “Log In” button is enough.
    3. Click the “Citation” tab and enter the article’s citation (e.g. 53 Duke L.J. 1067)
    4. Retrieve and download the article.  Upload the PDF to Canvas.

III. How to Find links to Non-Law Journal Articles

 

1. Google the article to see if a copy has been posted as open-access online. Common places to check include: Google Scholar, author’s website, and the publisher or journal’s website.  If it has been posted online, copy and paste that link into Canvas.

2. If it hasn’t been posted online, open Searchworks (searchworks.stanford.edu), the University’s library catalog. Then click the dropdown arrow next to “Catalog” and change to “Articles+”

3. Once in Articles+, type in the title of the article you are looking for in the search bar, then click the magnifying glass to search.

4. Scroll down to find the relevant result (note: it may not be the first result). Click the article’s title to enter into the catalog record for that article.

 

5. Within the catalog record, check the sources in the boxes on the left-hand side of the page. The “Best source” box will give the best, most direct link to the article. Additional databases in which to find the article may be listed underneath in the “All available sources” box. Check that at least one of these links works by clicking into the links provided.

6. If the catalog record has a working link to the article, you can A) copy & paste that link into Canvas, OR B) copy & paste the link to the catalog record (a searchworks.stanford.edu URL) into Canvas (see screenshot below). Using the catalog record link ensures students have access to multiple sources of the article, where available.

IV. How to Find Links to Electronic Versions of Books (eBooks)

1. Open Searchworks (searchworks.stanford.edu), the University’s library catalog.

2. Click the “All Fields” button and choose “Title.”  Then enter the book title.

3. Look for a catalog record that indicates online access – you may need to scroll down a few results.  If you do not find one, this means Stanford does not have access to an electronic version of the book.

4. Click the title of the book to enter the catalog record.

5. You can either A) copy & paste the link under “Available Online” into Canvas, OR B) copy & paste the link to the catalog record (a searchworks.stanford.edu URL) into Canvas (see screenshot below).

V. How to Find Links to News Articles

1. Google the article to see if a copy has been posted online.  If it has been posted online, copy and paste that link into Canvas.

2. If it is online but behind a pay-wall (e.g. certain NYT or Wall Street Journal articles), search for the article on Lexis or Proquest.

a. searching in LexisNexis: Login in Lexis and go to Lexis+

 

  1. From the Lexis+ homepage, click “News”
  2. Search by entering the title of the article in the search bar 

  3. Click into the correct article. Then click the “Actions” dropdown next to the article title to find “Link to this page”

  4. Click Link to this page” to find the URL and copy & paste that link to the Canvas page.

b. Searching in Proquest

  1. Search for the article title in the search bar.

  2. Click the result you want to open the article. From the article page, find the “All Options” button and click it.

  3. In the popup menu, find the link at the top of the page. Click the link icon to copy the URL, then paste it into Canvas.

     

3. If the article cannot be found in Lexis or Proquest, check the Major U.S. Newspapers guide for more resources, or contact the reference team.