Your starting point for confident copyright research.
Cultural heritage professionals make copyright determinations every day that impact what to digitize, how to share, and what collections are made accessible to the people they serve. Copyright Nexus offers you the research infrastructure to make those determinations accurately and confidently.
Good copyright research opens collections.
Every item in your collection has a copyright status, and knowing it accurately is what allows your institution to share content responsibly and expansively. For institutions without dedicated legal staff, getting to that determination thoroughly and efficiently is one of the most persistent challenges in collections work.
Good copyright research does not favor any outcome. It gives your institution a well researched answer, one that supports responsible access, respects the rights of creators, and holds up to scrutiny regardless of where it lands.
Copyright Nexus was built for institutions that want to do this right. It is not a substitute for legal counsel, but it is the rigorous, documented starting point that responsible copyright research deserves.
Meet Copyright Compass.
Compass is our flagship AI-powered research service. Ask any copyright question you have about a published title, a publication era, an unpublished manuscript, archival correspondence, or a government document, and Compass will search across verified copyright and biographical databases to provide trusted guidance on the copyright status of your collections.
With each determination, Compass returns a confidence level with a specific explanation of how the rights status was reached, alongside a recommended RightsStatements.org designation for the work.
Compass does not offer any legal opinions. Instead, it is the most thorough, documented starting point available in your copyright journey.
Open Copyright CompassBuilt on the same foundation. Designed for specific workflows.
Every service in the Copyright Nexus suite draws on the same verified research infrastructure.
Copyright Compass
AI-powered researchShare information about a work and receive rights guidance powered by trusted copyright and biographical databases.
Open CompassCopyright Navigator
Step-by-step guided analysisAnswer straightforward questions about publication date, copyright notice, and renewals for your items to arrive at a clear rights determination. No prior copyright expertise required.
Open NavigatorCopyright History
Published work renewal timelineSearch by title and author to retrieve the full copyright lifecycle of a specific work, including original registration, renewal records, current status, and projected expiration date.
Open HistoryRights Scan
Rights review for digital collectionsProvide a link or upload a list of items and receive a rights assessment for each, ready to integrate into your digital asset management workflow.
Coming SoonBuilt using verified sources. Transparent about our process.
Copyright Nexus draws on authoritative databases and reference materials to answer every question. Copyright Nexus is transparent about the confidence level of each determination because accuracy requires honesty about uncertainty. When data about an item is found, we will tell you where to find it. If no data is found, we tell you what that means and recommend next steps.
Want to understand the methodology behind every determination? Learn more about Our Approach