Copyright advice for LJMU students, researchers and staff

Copyright law includes a number of exceptions which allow limited copying/use of copyright materials in certain circumstances without the need to gain the permission of the rights holder. The main ones affecting study and research include:

Research and private study

The provision covers all types of copyright works – literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works, as well as sound recordings, films and broadcasts and allows researchers and students to copy limited extracts of works for non-commercial research and private study.

Quotation for criticism, review and news reporting

The provision covers all types of copyright works and permits the quotation of a work as long as these purposes are reasonable and:

• the work has been made available to the public
• the use of the quotation is ‘fair dealing’ with the work
• the extent of the quotation is ‘no more than is required’ by the specific purpose for which it is used
• the quotation is accompanied by ‘sufficient acknowledgement’ (unless this would be impossible for reasons of practicality or otherwise)

Accessible copies

The provision covers all types of copyright works and allows a disabled person, or someone on their behalf (including HE establishments), to make an accessible copy (of a whole work) for their personal use providing they (or the university) have a legitimate copy and that a suitable accessible copy may not already be commercially available at a reasonable cost.

Illustration for instruction

The provision covers all types of copyright works and allows copying to illustrate a teaching point subject to fair dealing. The copying must be done by the person giving or receiving instruction and permits the use of digital technology such as interactive whiteboards. This exception also includes copying for exam purposes. Copying for examination is subject to fair dealing, so the use of the extract must be fair.  This may mean limiting copying to shorter extracts where possible, and restricting access to the works used to those being examined.  

Text and data mining

Allows UK researchers to copy a work for analysis using text and data mining technologies without the risk of infringement where the analysis is for the purpose of non-commercial research and the researcher already has lawful access to the work in question.

For further details and other exceptions please visit the Intellectual Property Office guidance on exceptions to copyright.

The Intellectual Property Office has also produced useful guides to copyright exceptions for education and teaching  and research.

You may include what is required for the purpose of your coursework, assessments or assignments subject to fair dealing. All works used will need to be properly acknowledged. Work included in coursework, assignments etc. may not be made public in any way e.g. published, exhibited or displayed unless you have obtained written permission from the rights holder.

As a general guideline copyright lasts 70 years after the author/creator’s death. If the work has several authors, the period of protection will last for 70 years following the death of the last surviving author.

However there are a few exceptions to this 70 year rule including:

• Photographs taken on or after 1 August 1989: Copyright lasts for 70 years after the death of the photographer
• Photographs taken before 1 August 1989: subject to varying periods of copyright
• Dramatic and musical work with no named author: Copyright lasts for 70 years from date of publication
• Published sound recordings: Copyright lasts for 70 years from recording being made
• Unpublished sound recordings: Copyright lasts for 50 years from recording being made
• Films: Copyright lasts for 70 years from the death of the last surviving author out of the director, producer, author of screenplay, composer of soundtrack
• Broadcasts: Copyright lasts for 50 years from date of broadcast
• Typographical layout: Copyright lasts for25 years from publication
• Crown copyright: Copyright lasts for 125 years from publication, subject to a waiver

Copyright exists to protect the intellectual standing and economic rights of creators and publishers of all literary, dramatic, artistic, musical, audiovisual and electronic works. As long as the work is original, copyright protection is automatic. In the UK where there is no registration or other procedures to follow, copyright exists whether or not it is asserted using the © symbol or otherwise. 

The law governing copyright in the UK is the Copyright, Design and Patents Act (CDPA) 1988 and amendments.

See also further copyright information and guidance produced by The Intellectual Property Office.

Some copyright exceptions only apply if the use of the work is a ‘fair dealing’.

‘Fair dealing’ is a legal term used to establish whether a use of copyright material is lawful or whether it infringes copyright. There is no statutory definition of fair dealing but factors that have been identified by the courts as relevant in determining whether a particular dealing with a work is fair include:

• Does using the work affect the market for the original work? If a use of a work acts as a substitute for it, causing the owner to lose revenue, then it is not likely to be fair.
• Is the amount of the work used reasonable?
• Is the use of the work appropriate?
• Is it accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement?

Specific amounts are not defined but general advice suggests the following limits for each of these exceptions:

Non-commercial research and private study

• up to one complete chapter in a book
• up to one whole article in a single issue of a journal or in a set of conference proceedings
• the entire report of a single case in a judicial review
• one short story or one poem not exceeding 10 pages in an anthology of short stories or poems; or
• no more than 10% of any published edition above, whichever is the greater

Criticism, review and quotation

• one extract of no more than 400 words
• several extracts none more than 300 words and totalling not more than 800 words; or
• up to 40 lines from a poem, not exceeding one-quarter of the whole

Illustration for instruction

• one extract of no more than 400 words
• several extracts none more than 300 words and totalling not more than 800 words; or
• up to 40 lines from a poem, not exceeding one-quarter of the whole

Presenting someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as your own is known as plagiarism and is a breach of academic integrity. Failure to adequately reference and acknowledge works can leave you open to accusations of plagiarism and academic misconduct. 

In the first instance copyright ownership rests with the author or creator of a work. However if the work was undertaken in the course of employment the employer will probably own the copyright unless there is a contract to specify otherwise.

Copyright can be assigned, sold, leased to, or inherited by another person or organisation: frequently an author may assign some or all of his/her copyrights to a publisher. Therefore when seeking to identify the copyright owner the most likely parties to consider are:

• Creator or author
• Employer
• Person who undertakes the arrangements (commissions the work)
• The producer
• The publisher

Copyright owners have exclusive rights to their work which include the right:

• to copy work
• to issue copies of the work to the public
• to perform, show or play the work in public
• to broadcast the work or include it in a cable programme service
• to rent or lend the work
• to adapt the work or do any of the above in relation to the adaptation

If you are not the rights holder and want to do any of these things you will need the rights holder’s permission.

Students normally own the copyright in works they create in the course of their studies unless there is a written agreement to transfer the copyright to the university during enrolment.

For university staff, unless you have an agreement or contract that says otherwise the university will own the copyright in any work produced in the course of your employment here – including teaching materials.

Copyright is an important consideration when making any third-party material available to your students. Responsibility for any copyright infringement rests with the person making the copy. 

Photocopying, downloading and scanning materials such as book chapters and journal articles are most likely to be subject to copyright restrictions. The university HE Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) Licence covers photocopying and scanning of most UK publications and some US and other international publishers.

Briefly it allows:

• multiple photocopies of limited extracts from copyright protected printed books, journals and magazines
• digital copies of limited extracts from copyright protected printed books, journals and magazines

Photocopies may be made by academics and students for distribution in the classroom.

Academic staff requiring digital copies should submit digitisation requests to the Digital Scanning Service team. The team will check that the material is covered by the Licence and that the university has a legitimate copy, retrieve the item from stock, digitise the chapter or article, include the appropriate copyright notice and send a link which can then be used to make the text available to students through Canvas or reading lists.

Currently the terms of the CLA licence permit one chapter from a book, one article from a journal or magazine issue (or 10%, whichever is greater) to be digitised or copied in support of any one course module.

You may include what is required for the purpose of your coursework, assessments or assignments subject to fair dealing. All works used will need to be properly acknowledged. Work included in coursework, assignments etc. may not be made public in any way e.g. published, exhibited or displayed unless you have obtained written permission from the rights holder.

When linking to electronic resources from Canvas and reading lists it is important that you should only provide links and not upload publisher PDFs. Further guidance can be found at Canvas and copyright: e-journals and eBooks (PDF, 245KB).

There are many aspects that need to be considered when recording lectures. The JISC guide Recording lectures: legal considerations offers clear guidance including copyright issues that may arise when recording lectures. 
 

The university has an Educational Recording Agency (ERA) Licence which allows the recording of television and radio broadcasts for non-commercial educational use. Recordings can be made from all broadcasts but access to some broadcast services (such as pay TV services) may be restricted due to their terms and conditions.  All scheduled free-to-air radio and television broadcasts may be recorded for the purpose of making ERA recordings.

Content may also be accessed and downloaded from On-demand services such as BBC iPlayer, 4 on Demand, ITV Player, Demand 5 and Clic (S4C) in a similar way to personal private users. This applies also to podcasts. Users should check the terms and conditions of the service providers for detail.

Further licence details can be found online.

The recordings are to be used for the educational purposes of the university only, whether on university premises or conducting courses elsewhere. Off-air recordings should not be sold, lent or hired to anyone else or copied on their behalf. The ERA scheme stipulates that recordings can only be used on courses where students constitute full-time equivalents.

Recordings in either hard copy form or by electronic means may not be supplied to distance learning students outside the UK.

The university also subscribes to Box of Broadcasts (BoB), a service for UK universities which allows you to view and record TV or radio programmes from over 60 channels.

Care should be taken when using clips from YouTube as some of the content may have been uploaded to the site illegally.

For the purposes of illustration for instruction live streaming or playing a DVD directly in class is permitted. Uploading entire film DVDs to Canvas is not permitted. However the use of a clip for the purposes of illustration for instruction would be permitted as long as the copying is fair, for non-commercial purposes and sufficiently acknowledged. Access should be restricted to those students enrolled on the module the clip is required for.

Short extracts of commercial music may be used in teaching materials for the purposes of illustration for instruction or for criticism and review in the classroom but you would need the permission of the rights holder to include it in materials on Canvas.

Images - including photographs, diagrams and other illustrations – available in print or electronic sources are subject to copyright. Images in sources covered by the CLA Licence may be photocopied or scanned and distributed to students. They may also be included in presentations. It is important that full acknowledgement or attribution of the source is given. Any teaching material that includes scanned images and uploaded to Canvas should be reported to the Digital Scanning Service team.

Images that are freely available on the internet may still be protected by copyright and permission from the rights holder should be obtained before copying them. For teaching purposes it may be permissible to use them under the criticism or review or the illustration for instruction exceptions but they must be given full acknowledgement or attribution and care must be taken that they are not further distributed.

There are many sources of copyright cleared images available on the internet which provide images with permission for use in certain circumstances including teaching and private study, for example OpenVerse licensed images. You should always check the terms and conditions to ensure your use is legal and always fully acknowledge your source.

Further guidance can be found within the Guide to Copyright and Images (PDF, 228KB).