Library
Copyright essentials
Our guide to copyright for students, staff and researchers.
Copyright is relevant to all staff and students whether you are creating an original work or using someone else's work.
These pages will help you understand copyright and why it's important for you to consider it in your work and studies.
Copyright guides
Copyright for students
How copyright status affects the reproduction of the works of others in your own work and learning.
Copyright for staff
How copyright status affects using and sharing resources as part of your teaching.
Copyright for researchers
How copyright status affects the agreements that you make with publishers.
Copyright resources
Useful links to help you find appropriate copyright-compliant material, resources or information.
About copyright
What is copyright?
Copyright is part of a set of intellectual property rights that gives the creator of a work the exclusive rights to copy and distribute that work, and to make adaptations of it. Current UK copyright law is the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
In brief, UK copyright law gives copyright owners rights to:
- Reproduce the work
- Distribute the work
- Lend the work
- Share the work, such as performing, to audiences
- Share the work online
- Adapt the work in any form of their choosing
- Grant rights of the above list to others
What is protected by copyright and for how long?
Copyright is an automatic right and applies to original works that are published or unpublished. 'Original' means that the creator has contributed their own ideas or skills to the creation of the material. Copyright does not protect ideas or thoughts. They must be recorded or 'fixed' in a physical or digital realm.
Different types of material have different periods of copyright protection. Expand the drop-down below for further information.
Literary works
Work which is written or verbalised. It includes work that is sung without musical accompaniment.
Examples: Books, journal articles, poems, manuscripts, newspaper articles, song lyrics, letters, diaries, emails, webpages, conference papers, social media posts.
Duration of copyright: 70 years from the end of the year in which the author or creator died. If the author is unknown, copyright expires 70 years from the end of the year in which the work was first created.
Dramatic works
Work which is performed, or can support a performance. It excludes independent musical accompaniments.
Examples: Dance, mime, opera, musical theatre, choreography, stage directions.
Duration of copyright: 70 years from the end of the year in which the author or creator died. If the author is unknown, copyright expires 70 years from the end of the year in which the work was first created.
Musical works
Work that consists of musical forms. It excludes song lyrics or words verbalised alongside a performance of the music. A recording of a musical work is considered as a separate sound recording.
Examples: Musical scores, sheet music or other notations.
Duration of copyright: 70 years from the end of the year in which the author or creator died. If the author is unknown, copyright expires 70 years from the end of the year in which the work was first created.
Sound recordings
Work which consists of a recording of sound material, or physical items that primarily holds a recording of sound material.
Examples: Vinyl, cassettes, CDs, DVDs, MP3s.
Duration of copyright: 50 years from the end of the year in which the material was created. If it is published or made available to the public in that time, it is then 70 years from the end of the year in which it was made available or published.
Artistic works
Work of artistic craftmanship other than literary material in physical or digital form, regardless of artistic quality.
Examples: Photography, paintings, illustrations, sketches, drawings, maps, diagrams, logos, clipart, graphics, fashion, jewellery, sculpture.
Duration of copyright: 70 years from the end of the year in which the author or creator died. If the author is unknown, copyright expires 70 years from the end of the year in which the work was first created.
Films
Work consisting of recorded moving images.
Examples: Videos, DVDs.
Duration of copyright: 70 years from the end of the year in which the last of the following died:
- Principal Director
- Author of the screenplay
- Author of the dialogue
- Composer of the music created for and used in the film
If the identity of those listed are not known, then the duration of copyright is 70 years from the end of the calendar year the film was made.
Broadcasts
Work that is an electronic transmission of images, sounds or spoken content.
Examples: Radio transmissions, television programmes.
Duration of copyright: 50 years from the end of the year in which the broadcast was first made.
Typography of published editions
The arrangement of text of a page, including layout, format and style of text in published editions or new versions.
Examples: A new edition of an out of copyright work.
Duration of copyright: 25 years from the end of the year in which the edition in question was first published.
Computer-generated works
Works generated by a computer in circumstances such that no human author was responsible.*
Examples: Systems in which the user merely needs to hit 'Start' to have the computer create the work.
Duration of copyright: 70 years from the end of the year in which it was made.
*This differs from other type of work that may be computer-generated including literary, dramatic or artistic work. In this case, the author of the work is considered to be those who had organised and arranged the work.
Databases
Work in which collections of data are arranged in a methodical or systematic way.
Examples: Catalogues, repositories.
Duration of copyright: 15 years from the end of the year in which the database is completed. If the database is updated, then the 15 year period starts again.
Crown copyright
Work created by the Head of State or employees of the Crown in the course of their duties. While it can include parliamentary papers (if created by the Head of State or employees of the Crown), parliamentary copyright is separate.
Examples: Legislation, parliamentary papers, government reports, and other official material created by civil servants, ministers, and government departments and agencies.
Duration of copyright: 125 years from the end of the year in which it was first created, or 50 years from the end of the year in which it was first commercially published.
Parliamentary copyright
Work created, directed or commissioned by the House of Commons or the House of Lords. This excludes works created directly by employees of the Crown.*
Examples: Works commissioned by either or both Houses of Parliament.
Duration of copyright: 50 years from the year in which the work was created.
*Parliamentary works created before 1 August 1989 are classified as Crown Copyright.
Unpublished works
Work which is yet to be published, or was never intended by the author to be published.
Examples: Theses, archival material, letters.
Duration of copyright: If the author died on or after 1 January 1969, the material is in copyright until 70 years after their death. If the author died before 1 January 1969, then material is in copyright until 31 December 2039, with some exceptions.
Copyright exceptions
Exceptions in education and research
There are various exceptions included in UK copyright law that allow for the reuse of copyright material within education and research. Many of these are 'fair dealing' exceptions, and are based on the idea that reuse should be limited and fair.
Different use cases come with different sets of exceptions. Expand the drop-down below for details.
S29 – Research and private study
You may make single, limited copies for private study and non-commercial research. These copies are for individual use, subject to fair dealing, must not be shared on Moodle and cannot be circulated to others.
S29A – Text and data analysis for non-commercial research
You may copy works to which you have lawful access to (such as current subscriptions of the library) for the purposes of text and data mining. This is a practice that uses digital technology to identify and pull data across different platforms and databases. This is only allowed for non-commercial research.
S30 – Quotation
You may copy a small amount of a work (such as a quotation or section of written text) within fair dealing usage for the purposes of criticism, review, news reporting and quotation. An example is using quotes from a published book to support an assignment.
S30A – Caricature, parody or pastiche
You may copy a small amount of a work within fair dealing usage for the purposes of caricature, parody or pastiche. The new work must display noticeable differences to the original, and laws of discrimination and libel still apply.
- A caricature is a representation of a person that is exaggerated or simplified for comic effect.
- A parody imitates or misrepresents somebody's style, usually for humorous or satirical effect.
- A pastiche is a composition drawn from various sources, usually a musical.
S31A – Accessible copies
You may make accessible copies of copyright works for the personal use of disabled people.
Library and Learning Services Accessibility Support Service will support you with making your learning, teaching and research resources accessible to you.
For further details, please see our Supporting Accessibility pages.
S32 – Illustration for instruction
You may reproduce small amounts of copyright works for the purpose of giving or receiving instruction. An example is the use of copyright images in a presentation which is uploaded onto Moodle, or to instruct on an examination question.
S34 – Educational performance
You may perform, play or show a copyright work for the purpose of instruction in an educational establishment. Audience members can only include staff, students or people connected to the University. An example is the screening of a film in a lecture.
S35 – Recording of broadcasts
You may record off-air broadcasts for students, which also covers transmission over a secure network. This only applies to broadcasts not covered by the University's ERA licence.
S36 – Educational copying of extracts
You may copy up to 5% of a work for classroom use. This covers multiple copies and scans. This only applies to items not covered by the University's CLA licence and only 5% of a work can be copied by the University, within a 12 month period. This means the same work cannot be used for multiple modules within a year.
Copyright licences
As a university, we hold a number of licences to legitimise copying for educational use:
Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) Licence
We subscribe to the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) Licence for Higher Education. The licence allows photocopying and scanning from books, journals and magazines, conference proceedings and legal publications and digital works, subject to the licence limits.
In order to comply with the terms of the licence, Library and Learning Services offers a centralised scanning service. We will check copyright clearance, scan the items, store the PDF, and make the link available on your reading list. For further information about the service, visit our Digital Scanning Service page.
Newspaper Licensing Agency (NLA) Licence
We hold an Education Establishment Basic Licence from the Newspaper Licensing Agency (NLA). This licence permits 'cuttings' to be made from print and online versions of national and regional newspapers.
Educational Recording Agency (ERA) Licence
We hold an Educational Recording Agency (ERA) Licence. This allows the recording and storage of television and radio programmes. Holding the ERA Licence allows us to subscribe to Box of Broadcasts (BoB). This enables all staff and students to record broadcast programmes from over 60 television and radio channels. Please note that under the terms of the ERA license, BoB cannot be accessed overseas.
The Higher Education Printed Music Licence (HEPML)
We subscribe to the Higher Education Printed Music Licence (HEPML). The licence applies only to staff and students on courses with a musical element (including individual modules), permitting copies of published musical works to be made and digital copies to added to the VLE.*
What the HEPML covers:
- Whole musical works can be copied in full
- Up to 10% of individual pieces in an anthology (by number of items)
- Up to 10% of a musical workbook (by number of pages)
*All copies of music (whether digital or physical) must be reported using the Higher Education Licence Data Form.
Creative Commons licences
Creative Commons is a way of licensing materials that encourages reuse and sharing, while also allowing creators to retain some rights.
Creative Commons offer 6 licences, and how people can use different works depends on which licence has been applied. The licenses work all over the world and last as long as the applicable conditions allow.
Anyone can apply a Creative Commons licence to their work. Increasingly, research and educational resources are being released open-access with Creative Commons licences.
To review the 6 licences, expand the drop-down below.
Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY)
This licence allows people to use, share, remix and build upon a work so long as they credit the creator of the work.
Creative Commons Attribution, ShareAlike licence (CC BY-SA)
This licence allows people to use, share, remix and build upon a work so long as they credit the creator of the work but any new versions of the work must be licensed under identical licence terms.
Creative Commons Attribution, No Derivatives licence (CC BY-ND)
This licence allows people to use and share a work so long as they credit the creator of the work, but they cannot change the work in any way.
Creative Commons Attribution, Non-Commercial licence (CC BY-NC)
This licence allows people to use, share, remix and build upon a work so long as they credit the creator of the work, but they cannot use the work for commercial purposes.
Creative Commons Attribution, Non-Commercial, ShareAlike licence (CC BY-NC-SA)
This licence allows people to use, share, remix and build upon a work so long as they credit the creator of the work, but they cannot use the work for commercial purposes and they must licence any new versions of the work under identical licence terms.
Creative Commons Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives licence (CC BY-NC-ND)
This licence allows people to use and share a work so long as they credit the creator of the work, but they cannot use the work for commercial purposes or change the work in any way.
Copyright, Licensing and Research Librarian
If you have any queries or require further guidance please contact Megan Kilvington, our Copyright, Licensing and Research Librarian.
Megan Kilvington
Copyright, Licensing and Research Librarian
Email: m.kilvington@yorksj.ac.uk
Telephone: 01904 876 236
