Tag: Exception

3. Licences

10 January 2022 / Erica Levi

Licences allow copyright owners to permit others to use the owned work. They can be exclusive, non-exclusive and open.

Licences should not be confused with the assignment of rights, where the copyright ownership is transferred from one entity to another.

The reuse of material has to fall within the terms allowed by the licence chosen by the copyright holder, apart from the following scenarios:

As a user, you can justify the application of one of the copyright exceptions or
The material is in the public domain and, hence, not subject to any licences.

Licenced material may be purchased through paid agreements (for example, through an institutional licence or contracts) or accessed for free if released to the public with an open licence or following an ad hoc permission granted by the copyright holder.

Look at the following categories to know more:

Can I use third-party-owned resources for teaching?

You might breach copyright law if you upload third-party-owned resources …

Which licences does the Coventry University Group manage centrally?

Downloaded and scanned materials such as book chapters and journal …

What are open licences?
A free or open licence is a licensing
agreement that allows individuals…

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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.

1. Copyright overview

10 January 2022 / Erica Levi

In this section, you will find information on copyright and the answers to common questions on the Law:

See 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.

Can I use third-party-owned resources for teaching?

14 December 2021 / Erica Levi

You might breach copyright law if you upload third-party-owned resources without permission.

UK copyright law allows some exceptions for teaching, but they apply only within the UK.

As a general point, in assessing whether your use of the work is permitted, you must consider if there is any financial impact on the copyright owner because of your use (for example, loss in sales).

Linking to known illegal copies of a resource is unlawful.

In any case, you must provide suitable acknowledgements to the original source.

Some course material is available through licences purchased by the university.

In particular, Coventry University Library is responsible for the following licences:

The inclusion of downloaded and scanned materials such as book chapters and journal articles is most likely to be subject to copyright restrictions.

You may use Locate, the library catalogue, to discover the library’s holdings and obtain permalinks, or use closed-course access for quick access to resources.

However, some materials (for example, British Standards and Digimap) have territorial restrictions – students connecting from abroad cannot gain access. Please check with the Subject Librarian for updated information, including the licences below.

CLA licence

The University has a Higher Education Licence with the CLA (Copyright Licensing Agency) that covers most UK publications and some US and other international publishers. The CLA Licence allows you to copy and distribute limited amounts of material without requesting permission each time.

As the process is managed by the library, you need to contact your course’s Subject Librarian for more information on whether your re-use of material is covered under the licence.

Educational Recording Agency (ERA) Licence

The university also subscribes to Box of Broadcasts (BoB), a service for UK universities that allows you to view and record TV or radio programmes on over 60 channels. Please check with the Subject Librarian for updated information on territorial restrictions.

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.

Fair dealing and the reuse of Creative Commons licensed works

10 December 2021 / Erica Levi

Unless the person using the work received separate permission or relied on fair dealing or other exceptions to copyright, they are potentially liable for copyright infringement.

If someone uses a CC-licensed work without following the licence, their right to use the work ends automatically as soon as they violate its terms.

Under CC version 4.0, users of CC-licensed works who come into compliance with licence terms within 30 days of discovering they were in violation of the terms have their rights under the licence automatically reinstated.

Sometimes, these types of disputes can end up in court.
Judicial decisions have been made in various places worldwide, and no courts have ever questioned the validity of the CC licence.

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Forward to What are the elements of the Creative Commons?

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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.

Exceptions in copyright

8 December 2021 / Erica Levi

In some parts of the world, copyright law has some limitations and allows some exceptions (for example, ‘fair use’ and ‘fair dealing’) to ensure that the rights of the public are not unduly restricted by copyright.

Thus, by offering exceptions to copyright, the Law permits certain very specific situations where you may be permitted limited use of copyright works without the copyright owner’s permission.

Exceptions and limitations to copyright vary by country, and they have territorial jurisdiction, meaning they apply only to that specific country.

In other words, since copyright law is unique to its jurisdiction, an exception could be valid in one country but not in others.

For more details, look at the Intellectual Property Office guide Exceptions to copyright: Education and Teaching.

See some more details of exceptions permitted by the UK in copyright law, with particular application to online teaching:

Fair dealing

Non-commercial research and private study exception

Criticism, review and reporting of current events

Teaching (in our case, specifically for online courses)

Helping disabled people

Parody, caricature and pastiche

Go to next What is copyrightable?

Go to previous Copyright Law

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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.

Exception: parody, caricature and pastiche

8 December 2021 / Erica Levi

It is essential to understand that this exception only permits use for the purposes of caricature, parody, or pastiche to the extent that it is fair dealing. This must not be derogatory or cause commercial harm to the original.

Please see this article on a court case

Only Fools and Horses firm sues creators of ‘cushty’ dining events

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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.

Exception: helping disabled people

8 December 2021 / Erica Levi

There are two exceptions to copyright for the benefit of disabled people:

You, or someone acting on your behalf, make a copy of a lawfully obtained copyright work in a format that helps you access the material.
Educational establishments and charity organisations reproduce, communicate, make available, distribute and lend accessible format copies of protected works on behalf of disabled people. The exception permits acts such as:
- Making Braille, audio or large-print copies of books, newspapers or magazines for visually impaired people
- Adding audio descriptions to films or broadcasts for visually impaired people
- Making sub-titled films or broadcasts for deaf or hard-of-hearing people
- Making accessible copies of books, newspapers or magazines for dyslexic people.

However, the following requirements have to be met:

Accessible copies of copyright-protected works can be made only from lawfully-accessed copies
An accessible copy can only be made by a disabled person or an authorised body acting on their behalf
The copy can only be made for the personal use of a disabled person. Accessible copies cannot be made, communicated, made available, distributed or lent to a person who is not a disabled person under these exceptions
An accessible copy must only change a copyrighted work to the extent that is necessary to convert it to an accessible format
It must be done on a non-profit basis

Note: there is a discrepancy between accessibility regulations and copyright law, where the former doesn’t take precedent over the latter

Creating a transcript from a third-party-owned resource constitutes an adaptation, and it can only be done with the copyright holder’s permission.

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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.

Exception: illustration for instruction

8 December 2021 / Erica Levi

A limited amount of material can be used to illustrate a point in a lesson.

Additionally, several exceptions allow copyright works to be used for educational purposes, such as:

Copying of works in any medium (meaning minor uses, such as displaying a few lines of poetry on an interactive whiteboard, are permitted, unlike uses which would undermine sales of teaching material) as long as the use is
- solely to illustrate a point
- not done for commercial purposes
- accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement, and
- the use is considered fair dealing.
Performing, playing or showing copyrighted works in a school, university or other educational establishments for educational purposes. However, it only applies if the audience is limited to teachers, pupils and others directly connected with the activities of the establishment.
If permitted under specific licences such as CLA and ERA 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.

Exception: criticism, review and reporting current events

8 December 2021 / Erica Levi

Fair dealing with a work for the purpose of reporting current events is allowed for any copyrighted work other than a photograph. In all cases, sufficient acknowledgement will be required.

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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.

Exception: non-commercial research and private study exception (s29)

8 December 2021 / Erica Levi

A user can copy limited extracts of works when the use is non-commercial research or private study, but you must be genuinely studying (like you would if you were taking a university course).

You can make a copy only if you have lawful access to the work.

Use is only permitted when it is fair dealing; copying the whole work would not generally be considered as such.

In assessing whether your use of the work is permitted, you must ascertain if there is any financial impact on the copyright owner because of your use. Where the effect is not significant, the use may be acceptable.

If your use is for non-commercial research, you must ensure that sufficient acknowledgements support the work you reproduce.

Where a copy of a work has been made under this exception, copyright is infringed if the copy is transferred to any other person.

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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.