Library Services

Copyright guidelines for staff

What is copyright?

Copyright legislation gives copyright owners the right to stop unauthorized copying of their works. They may licence others to copy their works, sometimes for a fee. the owner (or rightsholder) of a work is generally the author, but do not automatically assume that you have rights to your own work. The rightsholder could be your employer (i.e. Canterbury Christ Church University), or, if the work is published, or commissioned to be published and in progress, the publisher. Therefore you may need to negotiate rights before publication with these bodies, or permission to copy such works if publication has already taken place.

How long is copyright in the UK?

  • Copyright for literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works is 70 years following the death of the creator or 25 years from publication, whichever is later. This means that although the creator of a work may have died more than 70 years ago, you cannot assume that you can automatically copy the work.
  • For sound recordings copyright lasts for 50 years from the end of the year in which they were made released or broadcast.
  • New typographical settings of old work may still be in copyright until 25 years after publication of the new edition.

As University staff you need to be aware of the law of Copyright and how it affects your work here. This document gives general simplified guidelines, but is not a legal document. The guidelines are based on:

You may wish to consult the original documents for further clarification.

The legislation protects against copying substantial parts of a work without permission from the copyright owner and, usually, some payment. There may be several different rightsholders concerned with one work, e.g. the copyright in an illustration in a book may belong to the artist rather than the author or publisher. In these cases, if permission is needed in order to copy, then all rightsholders must be approached.

For further information on Intellectual property rights see the Patent Office website at:
http://www.intellectual-property.gov.uk/std/resources/copyright/index.htm

How does copyright affect my work at the University?

Limited copying is allowed through:

  1. Certain Exemptions to the Copyright rule, whereby some minor uses may not infringe copyright.
  2. Licenses that the University holds.

NB These licences cover staff and all full and part-time students, but not those on cost recovery courses.

At present licenses are held from:

  1. Nationally agreed licences
  • NHS
    This allows NHS staff to photocopy from published material with some variations from the HEI licence. User guidelines are available in the library.
  • HMSO
    Also known as a Click-Use licence. Crown copyright on certain categories of material (notably UK legislation and parliamentary publications) has recently been waived. This means that material may be copied in full if taken from an official government source. There are some restrictions so you are advised to consult the websites for further guidance.

http://www.hmso.gov.uk/guides.htm

http://www.hmso.gov.uk/cu/clickuse-terms.htm

Guidelines to exemptions and copying limitations

In the main these exemptions relate to copying for the purposes of research, private study or teaching and relate solely to printed resources. Digital copying, with very few exceptions, requires copyright clearance.

The limitations, bound by the Fair Dealing: Copyright Act 1988, are as follows. Any individual may make a personal copy of a part of any work for the purposes of private study, subject to the following conditions:

  • The amount copied should not be a substantial part of the publication. However, copying crucial parts of a work (e.g. the final pages of a crime novel) will not be allowed.
  • The purposes of copying should be for research or private study. If the research is intended to lead to a future publication, then the rightsholders permission must be sought.
  • Parts of a work can be copied for criticism or review purposes, so long as they are not substantial. An acknowledgement of source must be made.
  • Parts of a publication can be copied for reporting current events, so long as they are not substantial. This must be accompanied by an acknowledgement of source.

The Blanket Licence from the CLA allows limited copying without the permission of the copyright owner as follows:

  • Up to 5% of a book or a complete chapter - whichever is the greater.
  • Up to 5% or a single article from a journal – whichever is the greater.
  • A poem or short story that doesn’t exceed 10 pages in length.
  • One report from a law report.

In addition it states:

  • Multiple copies of an item for educational purposes can be made providing the maximum amount does not exceed one copy per student on a course of study plus one for the tutor. The copies must be made by the person giving the instruction and by paper to paper copying only.
  • The licence does not permit the copying of printed music, maps and charts, theses, Bibles and prayer books, or separate illustrations or photographs or works published by non-participating US publishers.
  • All the above instructions relate to a single copy and course packs.

Course Packs

What is a course pack?

The CLA defines a course pack as a compilation of materials (whether bound or loose leaf) of four or more photocopied extracts from one or more sources, totalling over 25 pages of copyright material, designed to support a module or course of study. It does not matter whether the materials are copied at the start of the course or at intervals during the course, or whether they are placed in the short loan collection for systematic copying by students at intervals throughout the course.

Printed Course Packs

  • Copying for printed course packs no longer needs to be cleared through the CLA’s CLARCS service, providing the materials copied belong to the institution, i.e. they are in the library’s stock or have been bought by the Department or Faculty from the institution’s budget. Clearance must be sought for any other material.
  • Photocopying of extracts to be included in a course pack must comply with the photocopying limits of the Blanket Licence, i.e. not more than 5% of a publication/one chapter of a book/one article from a journal issue.
  • Materials which are specifically excluded from the CLA licence may not be copied for course packs.
  • Course packs may be sold to students to recoup the production charges, but not to make a profit.

Online Digitised Course Packs

  • Works which are still within Copyright may only be digitised with permission from the rightsholder. This usually involves paying a fee, via the CLA. The fee is set by the rightsholder so can vary. Contact the CLA online to apply.

http://www.cla.co.uk/

  • The University is now a member of the Higher Education Resources on Demand (HERON) service. This is a JISC initiated scheme which holds a database of material which has already been copyright cleared for HE institutions. You may also make requests for new material which does not already appear on the database. In this case HERON will get copyright clearance for you and quote a price to supply the digitised material. It therefore offers a faster, and often cheaper, service than the CLA. For more details of this scheme see the URL below, where you can also view the online catalogue:

http://heronweb.ingenta.com/

Please contact Kathryn Smith (ks1) or Helen Beton (hab3) if you wish to make an application.

Linking to a website

It is accepted that links to websites may be made without necessarily seeking the permission of the site owner, although it is common courtesy to do so. Deep linking is not usually acceptable and it is recommended that you link to the home page of a website, to ensure that it is obvious that an external link has been made. In some rare cases websites are copyright protected so do ensure that you investigate the site thoroughly before linking to it.

However, with very few exceptions, permission must always be sought from the rightsholder when the full text of any material is put onto the Internet or Intranet.

Where to look for further information

Copyright Licensing Agency
http://www.cla.co.uk/

Papers on copyright issues for the electronic library
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/pub/copyright/start.htm

The UK Patent Office
http://www.patent.gov.uk/about/consultations/eccopyright/index.htm

Intellectual property
http://www.intellectual-property.gov.uk/

British Music Rights
http://www.bmr.org/menu.html

Copy electronically fairly or unfairly?
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/elib/papers/pa/licence/fairnote.html

Libraries and Archives Copyright Alliance
http://www.cilip.org.uk/committees/laca/laca3.html

International academic copyright issues
http://www.surf.nl/en/home/index.php

Who to contact at the University:

For help with Copyright enquiries

Broadstairs campus: 01843 609103 (broadstairslc@canterbury.ac.uk)

Canterbury campus: Wendy Sage (wds1)

Salomons campus: Mansion Library Kathy Chaney (kvc1s)

Salomons campus: Hayloft Library Andrea Ford (af24s)

For Intellectual Property Rights enquiries:

The University Solicitor's Office: Paul Bogle (pb108) or Eileen Churchward (ec1)