Tag: Jurisdiction

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.

What is fair dealing?

8 December 2021 / Erica Levi

Fair dealing in the UK is a legal term used to establish whether a specific use of copyright material is lawful or whether it infringes copyright. There is no statutory definition of fair dealing – it will always be a matter of fact, degree, impression and interpretation in each case.

The amount should be as much as a fair-minded and honest person would consider just, and it is not an excuse to infringe copyright.

Relevant factors in determining whether a particular dealing with a work is fair include:

Does using the work affect the market for the original work? If the use of a work acts as a substitute for it, causing the owner to lose revenue, then it is not likely to be fair.

Is the amount of the work taken reasonable and appropriate? Was it necessary to use the amount that was taken? Usually, only part of a work may be used.

‘Fair dealing’ is not to be confused with ‘Fair use’, a doctrine in the law of the United States.

Other countries’ copyright laws may refer to similar variations to the concept: fair use, fair dealing, free use and fair practice all allow some lawful use or reproduction of work without having to seek permission from the copyright owner(s) or infringing their interest.

Fair dealing and the reuse of Creative Commons licensed works

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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 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.