Introduction to Copyright
Copyright is a sub set of the broader concept of Intellectual Property, which also includes Patents, Trade & Service Marks. Copyright is automatic in that there is no registration procedure required by the originator of a work to assert copyright. Indeed, copyright exists whether or not the copyright symbol '©' is used. Many creators assign copyright to others, perhaps most commonly to publishers.
Copyright exists to protect the economic and moral rights of people who create literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, films broadcasts, web sites, email messages, sound recordings, etc. It is, however, recognized that people may copy "insubstantial" amounts of such works without depriving the creators of income or infringing their moral rights. Copyright in a work lasts for differing periods of time depending on the type of work, i.e. there are different duration periods for anonymous works, unpublished material, sound recordings, films, broadcasts, crown materials and computer-generated work. For many materials it is 70 years from the end of the year in which the creator died. However many works by creators who have been dead for more than 70 years (e.g. Shakespeare) will still be published. Copyright still applies to such works, the copyright being owned by the current publisher. Copyright in typography lasts for 25 years. Copyright applies to digital information in the same way as print.
The Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 permit limited copying for the purposes of:
- Non-commercial research or private study
- Criticism and review
- Reporting current events
Amount of copying permitted
Under ‘Fair Dealing’ you are permitted to make a single copy (photocopy or scan) of a 'reasonable' or 'fair' proportion of a copyrighted work. As 'reasonable' and 'fair' are not defined in law you must make your own judgment. However as a guide, this may be interpreted as one article of a journal issue, or one chapter of a book.
When copying any such source, an acknowledgement is required.
In all cases, works must not be treated in a derogatory way and an acknowledgement of the work should be provided.
Educational institutions need to make use of copyright works in teaching and learning. Specific licences have been negotiated with the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) to permit copying and distribution to multiple recipients. UWE subscribes to the Higher Education Photocopying and Scanning Licence. Although this may permit the creation of copies for all students in a class, the set limitations on the amount that can be copied apply.
