Category: FAQ on copyright

In this post, you will find the answers to most of the copyright questions

Can I include screenshots?

13 January 2022 / Erica Levi

Can lesson content include screenshots from various websites used as a basis for teaching and activities?

Screenshots can be included (provided there is an acknowledgement) in the context of a module, where they are being used for instruction purposes, and they are unlikely to be a substantial part of the website as a whole.

In this context, it would be difficult to see how it could harm the company’s commercial interest.

Additionally, it would be permissible under fair dealing exceptions such as those for illustration for instruction or criticism and review.

The author takes no responsibility for the content of this page, which is not intended as binding legal advice. The views are about copyright in the UK Higher Education sector context.

How do I find a legal version of an e-publication?

22 December 2021 / Erica Levi

Some authors often upload their published version on ReseachGate and academia.edu when transferring their copyright to the publisher.

ReseachGate and academia.edu are commercial platforms, and most publishers do not allow authors to upload articles on those platforms because the existence of a published PDF online will cause them to lose income. There have been instances of publishers suing universities and authors for copyright breaches.

We cannot provide hyperlinks to documents posted on those platforms because linking to illegally posted sources online is unlawful.

So, what are the options?

Check if the library has the publication. If it is a journal article, then if we subscribe, you can provide the DOI to the article (starting with http://dx.doi.org/…). If it is a book, you may provide the permalink from Locate.
Find the publication on an institutional repository: a) look at the afflation of the authors. If it is from the UK or Europe and it is a post-2014 publication, likely, a version is legally deposited in the affiliated institutional repository; b) search on the browser for the name of the affiliation (e.g. “Coventry University”) plus the word ‘repository’. It will give you the link to the institutional repository; c) search for the title or author, and you may find the record and PDF; d) share that link openly.

What about hyperlinks and copyright?

How do I link to e-published articles?

Why shouldn’t we link directly to PDFs?

How do I reference sources?

What about hyperlinks and copyright?

The author takes no responsibility for the content of this page, which is not intended as binding legal advice. The views are about copyright in the UK Higher Education sector context.

What is copyright on text base material?

14 December 2021 / Erica Levi

Unpublished text usually belongs to the author(s), unless there is a different agreement governing the activities of the creator(s).

You need to verify the terms of your contracts and agreements to verify who owns the material you produce during your association with the University.

For example, Coventry University’s staff and students’ work usually belong to the University. Therefore, claiming ownership of such material would constitute a breach of contractual agreement with your employer.

Do not assume that you or your colleagues own the copyright of the material they create because their employer could own it.

Another factor for consideration is that once a publisher, including a website, reproduces text, the copyright’s ownership may change. For example, a publisher usually owns the copyright of the published version, which might be a book or a journal article.

In some cases, publishers will only own the published version, and the author will retain the copyright to the text, but this is under specific conditions (like embargoes and location of the material).

How much text can I copy?

How do I reference sources?

The author takes no responsibility for the content of this page, which is not intended as binding legal advice. The views are about copyright in the UK Higher Education sector context.

How do I reference sources?

14 December 2021 / Erica Levi

Use the APA Referencing Style to reference correctly in line with Coventry University Group guidelines.

Some disciplines, like Law, will require other referencing styles.

Include official links to referenced resources, such as official articles, landing pages, or officially uploaded material.

What about hyperlinks and copyright?

How do I link to e-published articles?

Why shouldn’t we link directly to PDFs?

How do I find a legal version of an e-publication?

Can I link to videos and films?

What about hyperlinks and copyright?

The author takes no responsibility for the content of this page, which is not intended as binding legal advice. The views are about copyright in the UK Higher Education sector context.

How do I acknowledge Free Art licensed material?

14 December 2021 / Erica Levi

Free Art Licence grants the right to freely copy, distribute, and transform creative works without any changes. It needs to be acknowledged in the following way:

[author], “[title]”, [date of the work]. [where to find the originals]. Copyleft: This is a free work. You can copy, distribute, and modify it under the terms of the Free Art License http://artlibre.org/licence/lal/en/

The author takes no responsibility for the content of this page, which is not intended as binding legal advice. The views are about copyright in the UK Higher Education sector context.

How do I acknowledge Public Domain material?

14 December 2021 / Erica Levi

Acknowledgements on Public Domain aren’t mandatory. However, it is still good practice to provide information on the author, the licence and the URL, for example:

[author]. CC0. [URL].

Back to What is the public domain?

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The author takes no responsibility for the content of this page, which is not intended as binding legal advice. The views are about copyright in the UK Higher Education sector context.

How do you reference and acknowledge Creative Commons licensed works?

10 December 2021 / Erica Levi

The complete and correct form is:

“[title]” was created by [author]. © ([year]). [owner if different]. Licensed [e.g. CC BY-SA 4.0 (URL licence). Available from [URL].

However, it is permissible to use a shorter version:

Examples:

“Intellectual Property, Copyright and the Creative Commons” was created by Erica Wine. © 2020. Coventry University. Licensed CC BY 4.0.
It is an adaption of the content from the Creative Commons Certificate Course of the January 2020 Creative Commons Certificate by the Creative Commons, licensed CC BY 4.0. Available from https://certificates.creativecommons.org/about/certificate-resources-cc-by/

“Proptosis” was created by Yasser A (2017). Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Available from
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Proptosis.jpg

Forward to How do I pick a Creative Commons licence for my work?

Back to How do the Creative Commons licences work technically?

Back to Creative Commons licences

Back to Open licences

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The author takes no responsibility for the content of this page, which is not intended as binding legal advice. The views are about copyright in the UK Higher Education sector context.

Copyright advice

9 December 2021 / Erica Levi

The Glasgow Caledonian University UK Copyright Advisor is a tool that gives online information (but not legal advice) on copyright considerations on audio files, book chapters, computer codes, images, journal articles, maps and video files.

Go to next University’s information and guidance

Go to previous What is copyrightable?

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The author takes no responsibility for the content of this page, which is not intended as binding legal advice. The views are about copyright in the UK Higher Education sector context.

Can I use other people’s data, graphs and diagrams?

7 December 2021 / Erica Levi

Can I use other people’s data?
You need to credit or complete reference data you have not collected.

Do I need permission to re-use charts and diagrams?
Using them under the criticism or review or the illustration for instruction exceptions may be permissible for teaching purposes. Still, they must be given full acknowledgement or attribution, and care must be taken to ensure they are not further distributed.

You may need to seek permission to use charts and diagrams that are considered original and unique. We must keep a copy of the permission for future reference and add a note in the resource “With permission from [the copyright owner]”.

What about if I do not get permission?
You may adapt considerably the chart/diagram in look and wording and then add the notification “Adapted from [original source’s reference]”. 

The author takes no responsibility for the content of this page, which is not intended as binding legal advice. The views are about copyright in the UK Higher Education sector context.

How can I use images?

7 December 2021 / Erica Levi

Images – including photographs, diagrams and other illustrations – available in print or from electronic sources are subject to copyright. It is essential to provide complete acknowledgements or attributions to the source.

For teaching purposes, using them under the criticism or review or the illustration for instruction exceptions may be permissible. Still, they must be given full acknowledgement or attribution, and care must be taken to ensure they are not further distributed.

Many sources of free images available on the Internet provide them with permission for use in certain circumstances, including teaching and private study, e.g., Creative Commons licensed images. You should always check the terms and conditions to ensure your use is legal and fully acknowledge your source.

Images freely available on the internet may still be protected by copyright, and you need permission from the rights-holder before copying them. Not all material marked as free to use on the Internet is meant to be distributed freely: material might be incorrectly annotated like, for example, some posted on Flickr and Wikimedia (for more details, see the related post following the link) – the latter complies with US law and marks some content as Public domain, but it is not considered to be so in our jurisdiction.

Images in sources covered by the CLA Licence may be scanned and distributed to students. They may also be included in presentations. Report any teaching material that includes scanned images to the digitisation service through the Subject Librarian.

The author takes no responsibility for the content of this page, which is not intended as binding legal advice. The views are about copyright in the UK Higher Education sector context.