Copyright and Creative Commons

Michigan State University does not require you to file a copyright through ProQuest. As the author, your work is automatically protected upon creation.

Why copyright?

Even though copyright protection is secured automatically upon creation, there are certain advantages to copyright registration:

Registration establishes a public record of the copyright claim.
Before an infringement suit may be filed in court, registration is necessary for works of U.S. origin.
- If made before or within five years of publication, registration establishes prima facie evidence in court of the validity of the copyright and of the facts stated in the certificate.
Registering for copyright allows the claimant to receive statutory damages set out in Title 17, Section 504 of the U.S. Code, which range from $750 - $150,000, plus attorney fees, per copyright infraction.
If registration is made within three months after publication of the work or prior to an infringement of the work, statutory damages and attorney’s fees will be available to the copyright owner in court actions.
Also, registration allows the owner of the copyright to record the registration with the U.S. Customs Service for protection against importation of infringing copies.

Learn more by contacting the MSU Office of Copyright.

Sources: United States Copyright Office on Mandatory Deposit and Remedies for Infringement: Damages and Profits

Creative Commons License Options

The option of presenting authors with the opportunity to assign a Creative Commons License (CCL) to a dissertation or thesis is now available. Authors will be able to select one of the six CCL codes using the ProQuest ETD Administrator.

The CCL assignment applies to the version of the manuscript deposited in an institutional repository or library server. Authors can assign and revise their CCL selection prior to submission to the university. ProQuest will deliver the author’s CCL license selection in the metadata (xml files) that is delivered to the university.

Please note that the Creative Commons License selection does not apply to ProQuest’s use of the student’s dissertation or thesis. ProQuest’s use of a student’s work is governed by the ProQuest Publishing Agreement that the student accepts during the submission process.

For information regarding Creative Commons licensing, please see the Creative Commons web page at: creativecommons.org/share-your-work.

ProQuest License Options

No Creative Commons License
Attribution: Allows others to distribute, remix, tweak and build upon your work, even commercially as long as they credit you for original creation. This is the most accommodating of the licenses offered. Recommended for maximum dissipation and use of licensed materials.
Attribution-NoDerivs: This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to you.
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareALike: Allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under identical terms.
Attribution-ShareALike: Allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under identical terms. This license is often compared to “copyleft” free and open-source software licenses. All new works based on yours will carry the same license, so all derivatives will also allow commercial use. This is the license used by Wikipedia and is recommended for materials that would benefit from incorporating content from Wikipedia and similarly licensed projects.
Attribution-Noncommercial: Allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs: This license is the most restrictive of our six main licenses, only allowing others to download your works and share them with others if they credit you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.