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Policies & Procedures

• OIT University Policies & Procedures
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Copyright Infringement Policy and Guidelines

Purpose

To establish University policy on copyright protection that complies with applicable law and University policy.

Scope

This policy applies to students, faculty members, officers and employees of  West Virginia University and the WVU Research Corporation, as well as contractors, consultants, vendors and all others granted use of and/or access to WVU data and technology resources.   

Policy

It is the policy of West Virginia University to respect the copyright protections given by federal law to owners of digital materials and software, and to abide by all license and contractual agreements in the provision of resources and services to WVU.

Members of the campus community are advised to become as knowledgeable as possible regarding copyright law and this policy. Individuals who willfully disregard this policy and guidelines do so at their own risk and may be subject to personal liability. The University regards violation of this policy as a serious matter, and any such violation is without its consent and is subject to loss or restriction of computing privileges and disciplinary action up to and including termination, in the case of University employees, and expulsion, in the case of students.

Violations and Prohibitions

It is against University policy for users to use University equipment or services to access, use, copy or otherwise reproduce, or make available to others any copyright-protected materials or software except as permitted under copyright law or specific license. Specifically, users are prohibited from:

• Copying or reproducing any licensed software on University computing equipment, except as expressly permitted by the software license. Also, users may not use unauthorized copies of software on University-owned computers or on personal computers housed in University facilities.
• Copying, downloading, or uploading audio recordings, music, movies, videos and other kinds of copyright-protected files electronically without the owner's permission.
• Posting copyrighted material on a WVU owned web site (official or personal).
• Additionally, faculty, staff, administrators and students must:
  • Fully read, understand, and abide by all terms of software license agreements.
  • Where applicable, remove any copyrighted material downloaded from the Web after the evaluation period has expired (WinZip, etc.)
  • Not accept unlicensed software from any third party.
  • Not install, nor direct others to install, illegal copies of computer software or unlicensed software onto any University-owned or operated computer system.
  • Comply with other University policies addressing copyright issues.

Guidelines for Specific Materials

Computer Software

• The software provided through the University for use by users may be used only on computing equipment as specified in the various software licenses.
• Users shall not make copies of university owned or licensed software except where and only to the extent explicitly permitted according to the terms of the applicable license and shall not use university hardware to make illegal copies of any copyrighted software for the purpose of selling, giving, or lending this software to others (including but not limited to software from the public and departmental computer labs) or for any other unauthorized purpose.
• Software that is purchased at a discount for classroom or other limited use shall be used only in the manner authorized by the seller (and removed or de-installed as directed).
• Users are responsible for knowing the license terms of any software acquired pursuant to a site license. The terms of site licenses vary, and software distributed under a site license must be used and copied in accordance with that license.
• Computer software known as "shareware" is under copyright protection. Individual users of this software are required to comply with all terms of any shareware license, including, where applicable, to register and pay for any software they retain and use.

Internet, WWW, Digital

• Users shall not download copyright protected files from the Internet without permission from the copyright holder. These files could include MP3, wav, midi, or other audio files; QuickTime, avi or other movie files; gif, jpeg or other picture files; as well as any other media files.
• Using Peer to Peer (P-2-P) programs, such as KaZaA to distribute music, videos, etc. without copyright permission is against the DMCA.
• The WVU high-speed network is a shared resource and primarily for academic use. The University reserves the right to revoke or restrict network access of individuals generating high network traffic which is not academically related (including but not limited to uploading and downloading copyright protected files).

Enforcement

Although WVU Network Services does not routinely monitor the network for activity which is illegal or in violation of University policy, the University does reserve the right to monitor network use for operational needs and to ensure compliance with applicable laws and University policies. The University has a legal duty to comply with applicable laws protecting the intellectual property rights of third parties and to respond to formal legal complaints that it receives.

If a particular computer begins to consume excessive network resources, Network Services reserves the right to investigate and determine the cause for this excessive usage. Network Services can suspend, discontinue, limit or deny service without notice to anyone it determines is abusing the system. The Associate Provost for Information Technology, the Assistant Vice President for Human Resources and/or Associate Dean of Student Life will be notified of infractions.

Suspected violations of this policy or related statute should be reported to the Office of the Associate Provost for Information Technology (OIT) in an email message addressed to: the Associate Provost, Information Technology or by calling 293-4874. In reporting a violation, complainants should cite the specific section of this policy that has been violated.

The University reserves the right to authorize removal of any illegal copyright material or disconnecting a user's account if the user represents a serious threat to system integrity or poses a liability to the University. The University may refer suspected violations of applicable law to appropriate law enforcement agencies.

If any provision of this policy is ruled invalid under law, it shall be deemed modified or omitted solely to the extent necessary to come into compliance with said law, and the remainder of the policy shall continue in full force and effect.

Violation Procedure

The Office of Information Technology adheres to the following procedure to process policy violations, which may include Virus infections, email spam violations, copyright infringements, appropriate use violations, or any other OIT policy violations.

Questions or Problems

Questions, concerns or additional information about this and any OIT policy should be directed to the CIO office at OIT_Admin@mail.wvu.edu.

Responsibility

The Associate Provost for Information Technology (CIO) is the policy administrator for information technology resources and will ensure this process is followed. Additionally, Deans, Directors and Department Heads are responsible for compliance with University policy within their respective administrative areas.

Policy Last Updated: August 15, 2007

Updated November 13, 2007