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Copyright is an important and complex area and it is essential that we, in higher education, understand the basics to ensure that we do not infringe copyright law when creating and disseminating print and electronic copies of materials.
What is copyright?
Copyright is an intellectual property right that exists to protect the intellectual standing and economic rights of creators and publishers of all literary, dramatic, artistic, musical, audiovisual and electronic works. A work qualifies for copyright providing that:
Copyright legislation gives the owners of original works the right to prevent others copying a substantial part of the original work.
Who owns copyright?
Copyright ownership usually rests with the creator of the work. However, if the work was undertaken for an employer then the copyright ownership may rest with the employer. Occasionally an author may assign copyright ownership to a publisher.
Unless a work falls within 'fair dealing' or is covered by an exception (see below) you will need the copyright owner's permission if you want to; copy another person's work, issue or loan it to the public, or broadcast it.
Exceptions to copyright
In certain circumstances (e.g. academic writing) it would be impossible or impractical to get permission from the copyright holder, therefore the law includes exceptions which allows the use of copyrighted works without the copyright holder's permission. The main exceptions in the field of higher education are:
The university holds 'collective licenses' which allows Teesside staff and students to copy or reuse certain amounts from books, journals, recordings etc. without the need to obtain permissions.
Requests for copyrighted items under the CLA licence must be made via the Library's Scanning for Teaching service.
Our Helpsheet on Video and Audio recordings provides more in-depth information for staff at the University.
What is Fair dealing?
Some of the exceptions outlined above only apply if the use of a work is a 'fair dealing'. Fair dealing is a legal term used to establish whether a use of copyrighted material is lawful or whether it infringes copyright. There is no statutory definition of fair dealing, however factors determining if a work is fair include:
Fair dealing is permitted for the following purposes:
General advice for amounts that can be copied or used under fair dealing are:
Non-commercial research and private study:
Criticism, review and quotation:
Illustration for instruction:
Copyright exceptions for students and staff with disabilities
Anyone with a disability is now covered by copyright legislation where their impairment affects their ability to study or work on an equal basis as someone without impairment.
The CLA licence allows type size enlargement/reduction/alternative fonts/colour adjustment and left/right justification (and any other techniques to make content more accessible) of any quantity of material provided that:
Under the Copyright Act the whole work may be copied into another format. The full bibliographic information of the original published edition must be included and the copy be identified as being made Under the Copyright Act.
How long does copyright last?
Generally copyright lasts for 70 years after the creator's death. If there are several creators, then copyright lasts for 70 years after the death of the last surviving author.
Exceptions to the 70 year rule include:
Requesting permission
If you want to use copyrighted material which does not fall under any of the exceptions or is not covered by 'fair dealing', then you may need to seek permission from the copyright holder. However, if the material has a Creative Commons license then it might still be OK to re-use. For example: CC BY allows users to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, as long as attribution is given to the creator.
Using images
Images, including photographs and illustrations taken from print materials as well as online images are subject to copyright. Attribution should be given to the rights holder on any work you produce including essays, reports and presentations. You may also find that some online images require payment for their use. The university has access to Adobe Stock Free Collection as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud that Teesside Students/staff can use. The reuse of materials from here is in the licence information provided by adobe and this is where we would recommend students to source their material from.