User Agreement for Special Collections

This registration is valid for access to the special collections materials and reading rooms of the Yale Center for British Art and the Yale University Library, hereafter referred to as “the special collections”.

The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of all reproductions of copyrighted material, regardless of who makes the reproductions. Libraries and archives are authorized to provide a photocopy or reproduction for private study, scholarship, or research. For collection materials that are not in the public domain in the United States, researchers may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, reproduce except for teaching and scholarship, create new works from, distribute, publicly perform or display, or in any way exploit any of the content in whole or in part without the permission of the copyright holder. Researchers making use of any copies in excess of the “fair use” exception may be liable for copyright infringement.

 

In granting permission to examine holdings or providing reproductions for personal use, Yale University is not authorizing publication. The researcher is solely responsible for investigating the holder of the copyright (if any) and obtaining permission from the copyright holder for publication of copyrighted material. The researcher indemnifies and holds Yale University harmless for any infringement of intellectual property rights held by others. In all cases, the researcher must cite the appropriate special collection as the source.

 

Except in a few special circumstances, Yale University does not own the copyright to most of the materials in its special collections and can only grant permission to publish those holdings for which Yale University is unambiguously the copyright holder. For more information consult individual special collections repositories.

Social Security Numbers: Holdings may contain Social Security numbers. The researcher agrees not to record, reproduce, or disclose any Social Security numbers that may be included in requested materials.

 

Privacy and Publicity Rights: Privacy and publicity rights reflect separate and distinct interests from copyright interests. Neither privacy nor publicity rights are the subject of federal law. While fair use is a defense to copyright infringement, fair use is not a defense to claims of violation of privacy or publicity rights. Privacy and publicity rights are the subject of state laws. What may be permitted in one state may not be permitted in another. Note also that related causes of action may be pursued under the federal Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125 (a), for example, for unauthorized uses of a person’s identity in order to create a false endorsement. While an individual’s right to privacy generally ends when the individual dies, publicity rights associated with the commercial value connected with an individual’s name, image or voice may continue.* Researchers bear the responsibility of making individualized determinations as to whether privacy and publicity rights are implicated by the nature of the materials and how they use such materials.