Using copyrighted material

Copyright law contains a number of specific defences that give grounds for particular usage without permission from the copyright holder. It is important to remember that these are defences against accusations of copyright infringements, not inherent rights. If you are in any doubt as to the legality of your use of copyrighted material, it is always best to either seek advice from the Copyright Adviser or seek permission for use from the copyright holder.

There are more than are listed here, but some of the most relevant exceptions for staff are:

Non-commercial research and private study

You are permitted to make copies, either by scanning, photocopying or hand-copying, of any material owned by the Library - i.e. books, journals etc - for your own personal research or study.

You can only make one copy for yourself - you are not permitted to make multiple copies, either for yourself or students or colleagues. You are also limited in how much of the source material you are permitted to copy under this exception:

• 5% or one chapter of a book, whichever is the greater.
• 5% or one whole article from a journal, whichever is the greater.
• 5% or one whole paper from a set of conference proceedings or published report of judicial proceedings, whichever is the greater.
• 5% of an anthology of short stories or poems; or one short story or one poem of no more than 10 pages, whichever is the greater.
• Short extracts of 400 words or less may be quoted or copied, but longer extracts will require the permission of the copyright holder.

If you cannot come in to the library to photocopy material for yourself, Library staff can perform this service for you. However, in order to comply with copyright law, you must sign a declaration stating that you intend to use the copied material solely for non-commercial research and private study, and pay a small fee (the photocopy cost, plus a contribution to staff time and labour).

Read relevant section from Copyright Act

Criticism and review

This is particularly difficult to define, as copyright law as it stands contains no clear definition or explanation of the concepts of 'criticism or 'review'.

Generally criticism is considered to be the act of analysing or judging the literary or artistic quality of something. So, for example, if you were using an image under this defence, you would have to demonstrate an active criticism of the image, rather than using it to illustrate a point or for decorative purposes.

Reviewing some form of copyrighted work would mean writing a critical article or report on the material, such as book reviews or critiques of paintings/photographs/films etc. For example, film review programmes can use clips from a film they are reviewing without permission from the copyright holders.

However, this copyright defence is quite tenuous and difficult to define, so it is always best to seek permission where possible.

Read relevant section from Copyright Act

Instruction or examination

You are free to use almost any material, except printed musical scores, without permission in your examination papers, as long as the material is accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement.

However, if you subsequently wish these papers to be uploaded to UDo for student revision purposes, you will have to remove any third-party content you have included, as the papers are no longer being used solely for examination purposes and the legal exception no longer applies. You can substitute a reference to the material, so students can still find and access the material to accompany the examination paper.

Performing, playing or showing work in course of activities of educational establishment.

You are permitted to show any film, television or sound recording in class as long as the following criteria are met:

• The audience must consist solely to staff and/or students. Members of the public cannot be present, nor do family members count.
• The showing must be for educational purposes. You cannot put a film on in a class setting simply to entertain the students.
• The recording must be a legal version - i.e. a legally purchased DVD/CD etc, or an off-air recording recorded by IT Services on request under the terms of our ERA licence. The DVD/CD etc does not need to have been purchased by the Library; it can be your own personal copy. You cannot use a recording you have made yourself, however. Any recordings must have been done under the ERA licence by an authorised member of staff at the University, such as IT Services.
• If performing a copyrighted work, i.e. a play, again the audience must consist solely of staff and/or students. Recordings of the performance can be made, but they cannot be made available to anyone outside of the University or placed on the World Wide Web.

The University also subscribes to a number of licences that extend the range and amount of material that can be copied beyond what is currently permitted under copyright law. You can find more information on the licences held on the Licences page.