Investigating Alleged Copyright Infringement

University should respond quickly to any complaint that a work residing on one of its servers infringes copyright, acknowledging receipt of the complaint, indicating that it plans to investigate and requesting further information, if needed. University should immediately notify its legal department and the author/owner of the allegedly infringing work and begin to investigate the complaint.

The investigator will likely need to do all of the following:

• Request that the parties involved substantiate their claims, including, but not limited to, confirmation of the copyright status of the work and the circumstances surrounding the use, such as:
  
  
  • whether the use is personal or in connection with a University class or other official function;
  • whether the use is on-going and for how long;
  • whether the author of the allegedly infringing use obtained permission, and from whom.
    
    
• Review the original work and compare it to the allegedly infringing work to ascertain:
  
  
  • the nature of the original work (whether mostly factual or more fanciful and imaginative);
  • whether there is substantial similarity between the original and the part alleged to be copied,
  • the percentage of copied material (compared to the whole original work); and
  • whether the copied part might be said to constitute the "heart" of the original, even if the amount copied is very small.
    
    
• Determine whether fair use or any other legal exemption applies to excuse the infringement.

University, in coordination with legal counsel, will make a good faith determination whether to remove the allegedly infringing  material. A decision not to remove material should represent University's and its legal counsel's reasonable belief that the complaint is without sufficient foundation, or if well-founded, that a legal defense or exemption may apply, such as fair use. University should document its investigation and decision and write a detailed response to the person alleging infringement explaining the action(s) that have or have not been taken and their basis.

Sample Response Letter

[Complainant]
[Address]

Dear [Complainant]:

We received your [letter] dated [date] alleging that a work [identify how the work relates to University equipment and functions, for example, "residing on a University server"] infringes a work in which you hold copyright. As the University takes such matters very seriously, we will investigate your allegation and respond appropriately.

It will aid our investigation if you could provide the following: [list any factual items University needs to conclude whether there is unexcused infringement.]

We appreciate your bringing this to our attention.

[Closing signature]

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Crash Course in Copyright | Intellectual Property Section | Office of General Counsel

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Last updated: August 22, 2001