Intellectual property issues connected with Authentic Materials
The Language Materials Project (LMP) aims for integrity in acquiring Authentic Materials and generosity in disseminating them, while working within the bounds of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (1979 revision) http://www.jus.uio.no/lm/wipo.protection.of.literary.and.artistic.works.convention.berne.1886.1979/doc.
The materials cited by the Language Materials Project originate with authors and organizations outside the LMP. The citations themselves are the property of LMP.
In most cases the LMP does not post actual language materials, and therefore intellectual property rights are not at issue. Thus the following discussion refers only to the actual language materials posted on the LMP website.
Protecting owners' rights
It is difficult to determine who owns the rights to brochures, postcards, etc. from the past. In order to make such objects available without lengthy copyright searches, we employ the following process.
Before deciding to present an authentic material on the LMP website, we attempt to locate the owners and contact them for permission to use it.
- If the owner denies permission, we do not use the material.
- If the owner grants permission, we use the material, with an appropriate acknowledgment.
- If the owner cannot be located or does not respond, we post the material until the owner steps forward to claim it.
By this approach, we are able to present materials that are in the public domain, that no longer have an owner, or for which the owner no longer makes a claim.
If you are the owner of a material now posted on our website, and you do not want us to use it, please contact us at firstname.lastname@example.org to have the material removed.
A special note on links to web sites
Our web site contains links to authentic materials on other web sites that are not developed or maintained by the LMP. Before creating such links, we attempt to verify that the website conforms to international copyright standards, but we cannot accept responsibility for the content of those sites. (You can identify LMP materials by the "lmp" in their web address.)
Materials created by the Language Materials Project are the property of the University of California. These include the citations, language portals, materials reports, authentic materials guide, and everything else on the LMP website except for the authentic materials.
We support the concept that the ownership of intellectual property rights is not necessarily an all-or-nothing proposition. We encourage the use of LMP materials for educational purposes. In order to guarantee their non-commercial use, each item is protected by a Creative Commons license agreement. You are welcome to copy, modify, distribute, and display the materials under the following conditions.
- Materials may be used only for non-commercial purposes.
- You must credit the Language Materials Project as your source.
- You may distribute derivative works only under a license identical to this one. (That is, whatever you create using our material must be shared for free.)
The material and the freedoms embodied in this license are legally inseparable.