As for the rules of copyright, including what and how much you may reproduce from other works in your own as "fair use," the ultimate responsibility for learning them lies with you, whether you are "publishing" your eTD through UMI Dissertation Services or NDLTD or, later, in a revised form as a journal article or book. UMI offers the service of checking dissertations that are submitted to it for potential copyright problems, but like all regular publishers also asks the author to warrant that the dissertation does not infringe any copyright, or other rights (such as privacy and libel), so that the liability for any such infringement in the end resides with the author, not the publisher (though the publisher, too, may well become involved in defending against any suit brought).  UMI also, for a fee, will register the copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office—an important step to take because of the extra protection such registration affords an author whose work is later infringed.

An excellent but brief general guide to copyright law prepared especially for students involved in writing dissertations, which UMI commissioned from a copyright expert at Indiana University, is "Copyright Law & Graduate Research: New Media, New Rights, and Your New Dissertation," which includes a sample letter for requesting permission. A useful chart summarizing the current law regarding copyright duration may be found at a University of North Carolina Web site.