Copyright belongs to the creator, or his or her heirs, of writings or other original material (such as photographs or music) within a collection, and may be legally transferred.
Although maintaining copyright permits individuals to maintain control over and/or receive commercial benefits from a work, the Spencer Research Library encourages donors to consider transferring copyright for donated materials to the Library, so that researchers can more easily obtain permission to use quotations from these gift materials.
The transfer of copyright applies only to those materials created by the donor, as an individual or as an organization. If the gift contains materials created by other parties (such as correspondence received from others), copyright interests are held by those creators. In such a case, the donor has the right to transfer the physical ownership only.
An agreement to transfer copyright to the Spencer, therefore, applies only to materials for which the donors are the actual creator or those which the donors hold the rights by previous transfer.
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