Licensing+and+Copyright

=FAQ=
 * How do I determine if a work in the BHL is in the public domain?**
 * How is copyright status described in BHL?**
 * How do I determine if a work in the BHL is in copyright?**
 * Can I use your files?**
 * What does the Creative Commons (CC) license allow me to do?**
 * What about commercial licensing?**
 * What kinds of files are available for reuse?**
 * What are BHL's take-down guidelines?**
 * Does BHL claim copyright on its digitized works?**
 * Is there any license applied to BHL's data?**

 =How do I determine if a work in the BHL is in the public domain?= For the United States, the publication must be published prior to 1923. Works that may be in the public domain under United States law may not be in the public domain under the laws of other countries. You will have to research your country’s laws in this matter. The BHL cannot and will not advise you or any other party about interpretation of your country’s copyright laws. Generally speaking, the country where you plan to use the image and the nature of the use dictate what you can/cannot do as well as the level of risk involved. Please review the copyright law for the country in which you plan to use the content. BHL recommends consulting http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/national.jsp for further information. You may also contact the "Contributor" to verify the status of the specific book or volume.

 =Understanding Copyright Status= Back to top
 * ~ **Copyright Status** ||~ **How it’s described** ||~ **What it means** ||~ **License** ||~ **Can I reuse it?** ||
 * Public domain ||< * “NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT”
 * “Not specified”
 * Blank
 * Other || * the publications was published before 1923
 * it is a United States government work || * Not Applicable || * Yes ||
 * No known copyright ||< * “No known copyright restrictions as determined by scanning institution.” || * the copyright has expired
 * the copyright may have existed at one point but was not renewed
 * there is no marking or indication of copyright on the material
 * a sufficient and diligent search has been performed to determine that the copyright holder(s) cannot be located or identified || * Not Applicable || * Yes ||
 * In copyright ||< * “In copyright. Digitized with the permission of the rights holder.” || * the publication is published by a BHL consortium member and digitized with permission
 * permission obtained from rights holders to make content available in the BHL collection. See our Permissions page for more details || * Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license || * Yes, but NOT for commercial purposes ||

 =How do I determine if a work in the BHL is in copyright?= If a work in the BHL is published in 1923 or after, the work may be in copyright. You can tell if a work in the BHL is in copyright by looking at the item metadata, i.e. the data used to describe the attributes of a book or volume in BHL. Start by going to a title in the BHL. At the top of the list of volumes (“items”) on the right-hand side, click on the "--" or “+” sign to minimize/expand the volume details:

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 =Can I use your files?= Yes, please! If the files are from a work in the public domain you are free to reuse it including commercial reuse.

Generally speaking, the country where you plan to use the image and the nature of the use dictate what you can/cannot do as well as the level of risk involved. Please review the copyright law for the country in which you plan to use the content. BHL recommends consulting http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/national.jsp for further information.

We appreciate attribution to the Biodiversity Heritage Library and the library that supplied the texts for digitization. This makes it possible for other researchers find our resources, and helps us to understand and demonstrate the impact of our digital collections. To attribute use, please use the following format:

>> "Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Digitized by [//Holding Institution//]. | www.biodiversitylibrary.org"

In the case of space limitations, we recommend omitting the url. You can find the information about the “Contributor” by looking at the item metadata as described above. Example attribution statement: for an item in BHL scanned by Smithsonian Libraries, the preferred format is: "Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Digitized by Smithsonian Libraries. | www.biodiversitylibrary.org"

If the files are from a copyrighted work for which we have obtained permission, then all of the files on [] are free for non-commercial use, as long as you abide by the terms set down in the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 license (CC BY-NC-SA license).

For information about how to download content please see our Download Help page. BHL allows you to download whole books, specific articles, or individual pages in various resolutions. Back to top

 =What does the Creative Commons (CC) license allow me to do?= Here's a summary of the license rules: //For more information, see Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license//
 * No commercial use - you cannot use images in the BHL collection to make money, or for any commercial endeavor, without prior approval. Please feel free to use the images for your presentations, academic materials, non-profit publications, or non-profit web sites. If you want to include the images on your commercial web site, please read the commercial licensing provisions below.
 * Provide attribution - we prefer "Image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library. http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org".

This license applies only to content stored within the Biodiversity Heritage Library. It does not apply to image files at other sites that are linked from the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Back to top

 =What about commercial licensing?= You must contact the copyright holders for any commercial use. The BHL will not and cannot give or withhold permission for commercial use of any work in the BHL derived from a work under copyright. Using the metadata supplied with each volume, please determine the copyright holder or the institution that contributed the work and contact them directly. Please see the BHL Consortium Membership page for more information about contributors. The BHL will not act as “middle-man” in this communication. Back to top

 =What kinds of files are available for reuse?= The Biodiversity Heritage Library contains digital versions of important works of biodiversity literature. These digital versions are made up of a series of files such as JPEG2000 image files, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) text files and XML metadata files.

For more information about what kinds of files are available for download and how to download our files, see: Back to top
 * JP2 How To instructions for instructions on downloading and viewing JPEG2000 files.
 * Data Exports page for instructions on downloading BHL metadata files such as title and scientific name data files.
 * Developer Tools & APIs page for instructions on using standard protocols to harvest BHL data such as OAI-PMH and APIs.

 =Take-down Guidelines= include component="page" wikiName="bhl" page="Take-down Guidelines" editable="1" Back to top

 =BHL does not claim copyright= The Biodiversity Heritage Library does not hold any copyrights on any files. If the original works from which the digital versions were produced are in the public domain, so too are the digital files. As the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Institutions composing the BHL states, “All information currently in the public domain remains in the public domain. Neither the BHL nor the data providers will seek to assert any IPR over public domain materials.”

In addition to works in the public domain the BHL contains digital versions of some works still under copyright for which the BHL has obtained permission from the copyright holders. In these cases the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 license applies. Most of these works are journals published by non-profit learned societies or research institutions whose mission is involved with biodiversity.

As more materials are added to the Biodiversity Heritage Library our usage terms may evolve. The Biodiversity Heritage Library is committed to keeping public domain materials in the public domain. Back to top

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