Copyright Basics

Colin TheakstonAcademic Liaison Librarian

What is Copyright?

• Copyright protects the moral and economic rights of writers, publishers and other creators.

• Copyright is protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and subsequent Statutory Instruments. Copyright applies to physical materials and to the electronic environment.

• Copyright is infringed by copying without permission. • Copyright law and associated licences are highly complex. • All staff and students of the University have obligations to

observe copyright law and the terms of associated licences.

Copyright is automatic

• Cannot copyright an idea• Can have copyright over the “physical

expression “ of that idea.• The copyright is enforceable once the work is

“fixed”, which includes saving to disk or writing it down on paper

Copyright Ownership

• 1st owner, normally author• Commissioned works• Works created during the course of

employment• Copyright as “property”

The rights of authors• The owner of the copyright in a work has the exclusive right to:• Copy the work• Issue copies of the work to the public• Perform, show or play the work in public• Broadcast the work or include it in a cable programme service• Make an adaptation of the work or do any of the above in relation

to an adaptationThe author, director or commissioner of the work, whether or not that person is the copyright owner, has the following rights:

• To be identified as author or director• To object to derogatory treatment of the work• The right to privacy of certain photographs and films

Length of copyright

• Books & Journals - 70 years• Music - 70 years• Artistic Works - 70 years• Films - 70 years• Maps - 50 years• Newspapers - 70 years• UK Official Pubs - 50 years• Broadcasts - 50 years• Unpublished Works - 70 years

The legislative basis for copyright

• Copyright is a property right intended to protect the rights of those who create works of various kinds. The basis of UK copyright law is the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

• The Act states that copyright is a property right and can lie in the following types of work:

• Original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works• Sound recordings, films, broadcasts or cable

programmes• The typographical arrangement of published editions

Copyright Exceptions

• Copyright is not infringed where limited copying is carried out within

• the concept of fair dealing• the terms of a licensing scheme• written permission of the copyright holder

(“clearing copyright”)

Copyright Licences

Blanket licences• are purchased by organisations from agencies

and suppliers acting on behalf of copyright holders

• set out the terms under which use of copyright material is permissible within the institution for educational purposes

Copyright licences held by the university

The University holds licences which enable it to use some copyrighted works for educational purposes without breaching the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The University is licensed under:

• The Copyright Licensing Agency Photocopying and Scanning Licence• The Newspaper Licensing Agency Educational Licence• The Ordnance Survey Educational Copyright Licence• The Educational Recording Agency Educational Recording Licence• The Open University Licensed Off-air Recording Scheme

• The University also subscribes to the British Universities Film and Video Council (BUFVC) Off-air Recording Backup Service.

Fair Dealing

Fair Dealing applies to

• paper to paper copying only (i.e. to photocopying from print originals)

• copying by individuals of short extracts for the purpose of – private study– non-commercial research– criticism or review

Parody or Rip-off?

Parody or Rip-off?

Parody or Rip-off?

Parody or Rip-off?

Reputational damage.

Fair Dealing

• The extent of fair dealing is not specified by the legislation. Generally accepted guidelines are whichever is the greater of

• one chapter or 5% of a book • one article or 5% of an issue of a journal • one paper or 5% of a set of conference proceedings • one case or 5% of a law report• one poem or short story not exceeding 10 pages from an

anthology• (thus, copying more than one chapter is acceptable provided

that copying does not exceed 5% of the total length of the book.)

Digital Copyright

• When using internet sources please remember that “free to view, does not mean free to use!”

• Please do not upload any of the following to the internet or VLE without permission– Deep link directly to a journal article– Images, paintings or photographs– A copy of a map– Annual accounts or in-house brochures– Logos or trademarks– Newspaper articles

What you can do online

• Shallow link to a web home-page• Use copy free images or photographs• Use short quotations, but stay within CLA

guidelines & acknowledge the source used• Paraphrase or refer to recognized theories in

your own words (but attribute the source)

Crown and parliamentary copyright

• Crown copyright covers material created by civil servants, ministers and government departments and agencies.

• It is legally defined under section 163 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 as works made by officers or servants of the Crown in the course of their duties.

• Copyright can also come into Crown ownership by means of assignment or transfer of the copyright from the legal owner of the copyright to the Crown.

Re-use of public sector information

• OPSI licence a wide range of Crown copyright and Crown database right information through the Open Government Licence and the UK Government Licensing Framework

The OPSI insist that users

• re-use the information accurately• acknowledge the source of the information• not re-use the information in a deliberately misleading way• not re-use the information for promotion or advertising purposes• not imply endorsement by Directgov, another government department or

other public sector organisation• not mimic the style and appearance of the original information, for

example by replicating the look of Directgov

Orphan Works

• Copyrighted works for which the owner cannot be located

• Problem of seeking to identify and clear the rights

• Must undertake diligent search for owner• Can sometimes lead to unreasonable

demands for recompense or the threat of litigation

Creative Commons• Creative Commons Licences are pre-prepared licences intended to

help copyright holders distribute their work, defining how it can be used by others whilst the authors retain their rights, particularly their copyright, in the work.

• The Creative Commons movement has produced a number of licences (currently there are seven main licences) which authors can take ‘as given’ or adapt to their requirements. The author then ‘attaches’ the appropriate licence to the work and that licence becomes the set of rules that the author expects the copiers to obey when they copy the work. The licences tend to be ‘more permissive’ than licences from commercial publishers, and their basic idea is to permit, and almost encourage, the copying of the works as long as due acknowledgement is given to the original author as its source.

Creative Commons Licenses

• How does it work?• Attribution (CC-BY)• Attribution Share Alike (CC-BY-SA)• Attribution No Derivatives (CC-BY-ND)• Attribution Non-Commercial (CC-BY-NC)• Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike (CC-BY-NC-SA)• Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-

ND)• CCZero (CC0)

Creative Commons - example

Open Access

• Publication of research and the Open Access movement• ‘Publish or perish’ vs. ‘scholarly communication crisis’• What is the Open Access Movement?• Alternative approaches • SPARC (www.arl.org/sparc)• Author pays model, e.g. Public Library of Science (PLoS

– www.plos.org), BioMedCentral (www.biomedcentral.com)

• Institutional Repositories (see Durham Research Online (DRO) http://dro.dur.ac.uk/)

Calculating Risk?!

• If you are unsure about using another person’s material please consider doing the following before going ahead;

• Seek advice from the library at https://www.dur.ac.uk/library/copyright/

• Use the Risk Management Calculator created by Naomi Korn at http://www.web2rights.com/OERIPRSupport/risk-management-calculator/

Copyright pages of interest

• Information on copyright can be viewed at

– http://www.dur.ac.uk/library/copyright/

If your copyright query cannot be answered there then contact us. We cannot give legal advice, but we can provide guidance.

ConclusionDurham University Library can provide guidance to members of the university on

matters of Copyright and the copying of material for research, teaching and learning at the university.

• In general, you CAN copy material IF: • the material is 'out of copyright' • you are the copyright owner • you have a visual impairment • you have the permission of the copyright owner • you are copying within the accepted limits of 'fair dealing' for:

– non-commercial research – non-commercial private study – criticism or review – reporting of current events

• the University holds a licence for the type of copying you want to carry out. • If in doubt - DON'T copy - seek advice.

Durham contacts

• University Copyright Officer.Colin TheakstonTelephone : 0191-3342970

E-mail : colin.theakston@durham.ac.uk• Library Digitisation Service.

Katharine Davidson-BrownTelephone : 0191-33442967

E- mail : j.k.davidson-brown@durham.ac.uk