Copyright guide: what can be copied?
Fair dealing
Fair dealing is an undefined term that only applies to specific purposes: research for a non-commercial purpose or private study; criticism or review; or news reporting. Non-commercial is undefined, but is likely to mean the purpose to which the copy is used for being of a non-commercial nature, and is not likely to depend on the status of the organisation or individual making the copy. For more information about copying for research see:
Private study is also undefined, but is likely to exclude group or class study. For more information about multiple copies for teaching and course packs see:
The copying of parts of a work for the purposes or criticism is permitted, and anyone may copy from a work (but not a photograph) for the purposes of reporting current events, provided that sufficient acknowledgement is given.
The scanning or digitisation of a copyright work originally in printed form involves the copying and electronic storage of the work and is therefore an act restricted by copyright. It may be possible to scan a single work for the purposes of personal research for a non-commercial purpose or private study under the fair dealing provisions, but you should note the following:
- The scanned or digitised copy should not be altered, edited, incorporated or changed in any way
- The scanned or digitised copy should not be copied further, e.g. by forwarding it by email, or placing it on an Intranet or Internet site, including WebCT Vista, or posting it on a discussion group without the prior express written permission of the copyright owner
- The scanned or digitised copy should not be stored on a networked or shared drive
- Any scanning should conform to the recommended fair dealing limits, i.e. a single chapter of a book, or a single article from a journal issue, etc.
- Single photographs, illustrations, charts, maps etc. should not be scanned without the prior express written permission of the copyright owner, nor should such material be isolated from a work and scanned in isolation
- It is usually permissible to take a single printout from the scanned document for your own private study or research for a non-commercial purpose
Incidental inclusion
If a copyright work is included incidentally in an artistic work, sound recording, film, broadcast or cable programme, copyright is not infringed. An example of this might be the making of a video in which a work of art was on display.
Copying for instruction and for examinations
Copyright in a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work is not infringed by its being copied in the course of instruction or of preparation for instruction, provided it is done by the person giving or receiving instruction and is not copied by means of a reprographic process, e.g. using a photocopier.
It is not an infringement to copy for the purposes of examination by way of setting the questions, communicating the questions to the candidates, or answering the questions, apart from the reprographic copying of a musical work for use by an examination candidate in performing the work. Subsequent publication or distribution of past papers containing extracts of copyright material would need permission from the copyright owner.
Performing a literary, dramatic or musical work
Permission is given to educational establishments to play or show a sound recording, film or video, broadcast or cable programme to audiences of lecturers and students in the activities of the establishment or for the purposes of instruction. Permission must be sought from copyright owners if a performance is to be public. Artistic works do not need permission because their display or exhibition does not infringe copyright.
Recording of broadcasts and cable programmes
Copies of most terrestrial TV and radio programmes may be made for teaching purposes under the terms of the Educational Recording Agency (ERA) Licence held by the University. Satellite or cable programmes may also be recorded at home for teaching or private study without the need for record keeping, as they are not covered by any licensing agreements. For more information see:
Parliamentary and judicial proceedings, Royal Commission or statutory enquiry
Copyright is not infringed by copying for the purposes of Parliamentary or judicial proceedings, or the proceedings of a Royal Commission or statutory enquiry.
Anonymous or pseudonymous works
Copying of an anonymous literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work is permitted, provided it is not possible by reasonable inquiry to ascertain the identity of the author(s), and it is reasonable to assume that either the copyright has expired, or that the author(s) died more than 70 years previously.
Works in electronic form
Electronic material (or electronic versions of printed material) is protected by copyright legislation in the same way as printed material. Both the content and the typographical arrangement are protected. If you are considering using in your Vista module text extracts, images and other content that is not your own, there is a strong likelihood that this is covered by Copyright Law. The University, and you, are at risk from prosecution if you do not check the copyright position of any `external´ content before using it. In particular, you must not scan or copy the whole or part of any document – journal article, conference paper, part of a book, an image – and save and store it in WebCT in any form – PDF, Word or image file (TIFF, JPEG, etc.) – without obtaining agreement from the copyright holder. For more information see Copyright and content in WebCT at:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/mole/staff/copyright
The University has signed a Trial Digitisation Licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency, which enables the Library to digitise print copies of journal articles, book chapters or images, published within the UK. The licence came into force on 1 August 2005 and will run for a 3 year period. Further information about the Library´s digitisation service is available from:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/eoffprints/
In addition, the software which allows the use of the electronic material will be covered by copyright. Rights for electronic documents differ from print if they are part of the technical transfer process – e.g. allowing an incidental copy to be taken by an internet service provider in order to make it available on a website.
Although, strictly speaking, fair dealing applies to electronic works, they are often covered by contracts or licences which will restrict access and copying and override copyright legislation. For more information see Licensing terms and conditions for Library materials at:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/licences/licence.html
The rules governing the copying of electronic material for people with visual impairment are the same as for print materials and are detailed in the Copyright (Visually Impaired Person) Act 2002. For more information, see: