Copyright Regulations

Copyright group sessions or workshops are also available on request.
 

DISCLAIMER The information contained within this document, is intended as general guidelines and an interpretation of current copyright issues. It is not intended and should not be construed as legal advice.

General Guidelines

In the UK, copyright exists automatically in all original works and are protected by the 'Copyright, Design & Patents Act, 1988'. Copyright does not have to be registered, but is automatically assigned the moment the material is created, published, recorded or, if the creator is unknown, released or publicly displayed.

TYPES OF COPYRIGHT
There are several types of Copyright:    

Literary
Dramatic
Artistic
Musical
Photographic
Films
Sound Recordings
Broadcasts
Computer Programs & Databases
Typographical Arrangements
 
Moral Rights
Associated with Copyright, are Moral Rights which exist to protect the reputation of the author/creator,
and unlike copyright, must be asserted but cannot be inherited after the creators/authors death. The 4 Moral Rights are:

• Paternity - The right to be identified as the author/creator.
  Non-acreditation results in plagiarism.
  
  
• Integrity - The right for the author/creator to prevent derogatory treatment of his/her work i.e. altering, adapting or any act that would be seen as prejudicial to the reputation of the author.
  
  
• False Attribution - The right not to have work falsely attributed to an author/creator
  
  
• Disclosure - The right to withhold films or photographs from publication or to prevent issuing, exhibiting or distributing to the public.
  

RESTRICTED ACTS
Copyright prohibits a third party from the following acts without the rights owners permission.

• Copying
  
  
• Issuing copies to the public
  
  
• Renting or Lending to the public
  
  
• Performing, showing or playing to the public
  
  
• Broadcasting, adapting or amending

EXCEPTIONS
Under the Copyright design & Patents Act (CDPA) 1988', the main exception to Copyright is
called 'Fair dealing', which is not a legal right, but a defence. Fair dealing for individuals is only permissible for
                        - non-commercial research or private study (ss29)
                        - criticism or review (ss30 (1))
                        - news reporting (ss30 (2))

The other exceptions fall under a category of Education and Library privileges
i.e.    copying in the course of giving or receiving instruction or for examination (ss 32-36)
         copying by librarians and archivists (ss38-40)
         local or interlibrary document supply (ss38-40)
         Interlibrary copying for stock (ss41)
 
 
 

RESTRICTIONS UNDER FAIR DEALING FOR EDUCATION

Under Fair Dealing the following limitations were recommended by the Library Association (now CILIP)

Journals	One article from any one issue
Books/ Pamphlets/ Reports	One chapter or 5% of the entire work
Short stories/Poems	10% of a short work, but less than 20 pages, or One short story or poem, not exceeding 10 pages if part of a collection
Conference/Judicial proceedings	One article from a set of proceedings
Maps	Maximum of 4 copies of any Ordnance Survey Map up to A4 size
British Standards	Up to 10% or 2 pages if short
Music	As a general rule, sheet music should never be  photocopied, although under section 36 of the CDPA 1988, up to 1% of a work can be copied by or on behalf of an educational establish- ment for the purpose of instruction in any quarter year. The MPA (Music Publishers' Association has also published a 'Code of Fair Practice' which allows copying in certain circum- stances (copy available at Trent Park Library or from Learning Resources Copyright Administrator).

In any case, multiple copying is not permitted unless cleared through the relevant licensing body or with permission from the copyright owner. For printed works, the university holds a CLA Licence, (Copyright Licensing Agency) which permits copying of all licenced material, within the guidelines of their 'accord'.

Copying for examinations is permitted only in the setting or answering of the questions. Where exam papers are later made available through the library or via the internet, the copying becomes illegal and should be removed and replaced by the bibliographic reference or permission sought.

OWNERSHIP AND DURATION OF COPYRIGHT

Literary, Dramatic, Artistic
In almost all cases, the creator/author is the first owner of copyright, unless s/he has assigned the copyright to someone else, e.g. the publisher. However, if the work was commissioned by another party, or was created whilst employed by another organisation, on request or as part of the normal course of employment, the copyright belongs to the contractor or employer. Copyright runs for life plus 70 years from the end of year of the death of the author/creator, or 70 years from public availability if the author/creator is unknown. Where there is a joint authorship, the 70 years is calculated from the end of the year of death, of the last author to die.
 

Musical works
The composer and the writer of the lyrics each hold copyright in their own particular work, which again is calculated as, life plus 70 years from the end of the year of death of the last person to die.

Typographical Arrangements
A publisher may not own the copyright in the content of a published edition, but he will own copyright in the typographical arrangement and any footnotes e.t.c. Therefore, a particular work may be out of copyright, but the edition at hand may still hold typographical copyright, depending
on the year of publication e.g Shakespeare’s plays. Typographical copyright runs for 25 years from the end of the year the edition was first published.
 
 
Crown & Parliamentary Copyright
When a work is made by an officer or servant of the crown, or by the Queen herself, in the course of normal duties, it is governed by Crown copyright, which lasts for 125 years from the end of year of creation, unless it is published within 75 years. Once published, copyright last for just 50 years. If a work is commissioned, then the creator usually retains his/her copyright which lasts life plus 50 years after the year of death. Parliamentary copyright is much the same as Crown copyright in that it lasts 50 years from the end of year of creation and is controlled by the relative House of Parliament. However, copyright in Bills, ends upon Royal Assent or if Assent not received, upon withdrawal or rejection, or the end of the Parliamentary Session.
 

Photographs
The photographer is copyright holder unless the work was commissioned or taken in the normal course of employment.

NB: Copyright ownership is dependent on the agreement made between photographer and employer/customer and in most cases photographers retain copyright in all their photographs (i.e. Contract Law over-rides Copyright Law).
Copyright in photographs is a little more complicated as the law changed in the acts of 1956 and 1988, thus affecting the copyright of photographs taken prior to these dates.

	PUBLISHED		UNPUBLISHED
Photographs taken on or after 01/01/1996
Photographer known	70 years from end of year of death of the creator		years from end of year of death of the creator
Photographer unknown	70 years from end of year taken, or made available to the public if within 70 years of creation _______________________________		70 years from end of year
Photographs taken before 01/01/1996	Receive the same Copyright protection as above unless&nbspa longer term is calculated under previous law (see below)
Taken before 01/06/57	70 years from end of year taken, or made available to the public if within 70 years from creation		70 years from end of year taken
Taken between 01/06/57- 31/07/89	70 years from end of year of publication		to end 2039
Taken between 01/08/89- 31/12/95 Photographer known Photographer unknown	70 years from end of year of death of the creator - Photographer Whichever is the longer of: 50 years from end of year made available to public or, 70 years from end of year taken, or made available to the public if within 70 years of creation		70 years from end of year of death of the creator 70 years from end of year taken
Taken before 1945	Out of Copyright from Dec 1994 unless protected in another EEA country as at 1 July 1995. Copyright would have been revived from 1st January 1996 to the end of term as with photographs taken on or after 1st Jan 1996.		Out of Copyright from Dec 1994 unless protected in another EEA country as at 1 July 1995. Copyright would have been revived from 1st January 1996 to the end of term as with photographs taken on or after 1st Jan 1996.
Taken before 01/07/1912	Out of Copyright		Out of Copyright

N.B.

• Once a photographer/creator is known, 70 years from end of year of death applies.
• If unpublished and year of creation unknown, copyright expires 31st December 2039.  

 

CROWN COPYRIGHT

Broadcasts / Cable Programmes
The Broadcaster usually owns copyright in all programmes, unless otherwise contracted.
e.g Copyright for Michael Palins 'Pole to Pole' series; , although broadcast by the BBC, is actually owned by Michael Palins production company, 'Prominent Television'. Broadcast copyright lasts for 50 years from the end of year of release.
 
 
Sound Recordings
Copyright belongs to the creator and lasts for 50 years from the end of the year first released/published i.e played in public or broadcast.

Computer Programmes
Computer Programs and any work published electronically, are afforded the same copyright as Literary works, being 70 years from end of year of the death of creator, or 70 years from the end of year of publication. However, since the Database Regulations Act of 1997, Databases are treated differently, depending on the originality of the content.

Databases
If the content of a Database is original work and the Database (i.e. layout, method of delivery) is creative, then it is treated as a literary work and given full Copyright protection of life plus 70 years. If the content is original work, but the database is not creative e.g a list of all company reports in the UK, the content will retain full copyright protection as a literary work of life plus 70 years, but the database will only hold Database Right which is 15 years from the end of year of creation. If the content is not original i.e in the public domain (e.g. Telephone Numbers), but the Database is creative, Database right applies which is 15 years from the end of year of creation. If neither content nor database are creative, the work may fall under the category of a compilation. Surprisingly, compilations qualify for full copyright protection of 70 years. Although databases are given only 15 years copyright protection, this can be extended each time an amendment is made. Thus Database right could be indefinite as the protection covers the entire work, not just the amended sections.

Multimedia
Multimedia products are made up of several copyrighted works of differing ownership's and lifetimes, making it extremely difficult to identify the owners of rights, let alone gain permission. Other copyright problems exist within multimedia products. There are the varying copyright laws from country to country e.g. fair dealing may be permitted for educational purposes in one country but not another. Also, the problem of moral rights exists. If a portion were copied or amended, it may be deemed derogatory treatment of the work.

Internet & Electronic Media
All electronic media is afforded the same copyright restrictions as all copyright works. E-mail messages, web pages and anything available on the internet has copyright attached just as any other work. Because it is available free of charge does not imply that it’s free to copy. Fair dealing would probably apply for own use e.g downloadling a single copy for private study, but forwarding the material to someone else, either electronically or by print would be an infringement. Some web sites actually give permission to copy for educational purposes in their copyright statements, but unless this is actually stated, permission should always be sought.

Linking/Deep Linking
It has always been considered courteous to request permission for linking to a website although it is not strictly copyright infringement.
However recent cases in Germany and the U.S. have ruled that deep linking is not copyright infringement,butmust always open in a new browser window and full acknowledgement of the source is absolutely imperative.

Unpublished Works
Unpublished works should never be copied without the permission of the author. This could be a Theses, Dissertation, Personal letter, or even an e-mail.
 

Back to Top