Copyrights
Copyright is the ownership and control of the intellectual property in original works of authorship. Copyright ownership and the rights thereof are defined by federal law; however, UNC Policies effectively grant ownership to certain copyrightable works to individual authors even though federal law would vest ownership in the University. Those determinations have been made by category of copyrightable work and category of author.
Refer to the navigation menu to learn about copyright ownership in regards to traditional, directed, and sponsored works (click the links for definitions of these terms).
In general, all material owned by the University shall be protected by notice of copyright in the name of the University. The proper form of such notice is as follows: © 20--, Appalachian State University. All rights reserved.
The date should be the year in which the work was completed or in which it was published, whichever is earlier. The name of the University must be spelled out in its entirety. The word "copyright" may be substituted for the copyright symbol shown above.
Copyright violations may result in injunctions, impounding, damages, attorney's fees, and criminal offenses (17 USC 501-513).
