It is the policy of Hondros College of Nursing to respect the copyright protections given to authors, owners, and publishers under federal law including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.
Copyright is the legal protection for creative intellectual works, which is broadly interpreted to cover almost any expression of an idea. Text (including e-mail and Web information), graphics, arts, photographs, video and other media types, music, and software are examples of types of works protected by copyright. The creator of the work, or sometimes the person who hired the creator, is the initial copyright owner.
Copyright infringement (or copyright violation) is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works covered by copyright law, in a way that violates on of the copyright owner’s exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copy-righted work, or to make derivative works.
Willful infringement may subject a student or employee to discipline and can impact the privilege to use information and technology resources for educational purposes at the College. Uploading or downloading works protected by copyright without the authority of the copyright owner is an infringement of the copyright owner’s exclusive rights of reproduction and/or distribution. Even an innocent, unintentional infringement violates the law.
The College has secured purchasing agreements with many of its hardware and software vendors that allow students to purchase these items at significant discounts. This is an alternative to help reduce illegal downloading or otherwise acquiring copyrighted material. Other alternatives are assessed annually by the College. Many resources found on the Internet are protected by copyright and should not be copied, distributed, or otherwise infringed upon by faculty, students or staff.
Pursuant to federal law, copyright notices are posted in all faculty, administration, and student copier access areas. Questions regarding copyright and possible fair use of copyrighted materials should be directed to [email protected]. For more information on United States copyright law, please consult the U.S. Copyright Office’s website at https://www.copyright.gov/.