Copyright law contains a number of specific defences that give grounds for particular usage without permission from the copyright holder.
It is important to remember that these are defences against accusations of copyright infringements, not inherent rights. If you are in any doubt as to the legality of your use of copyrighted material, it is always best to either seek advice from the Copyright Adviser or seek permission for use from the copyright holder.
There are more than are listed here, but some of the most relevant exceptions for staff are:
You are permitted to make copies, either by scanning, photocopying or hand-copying, of any material owned by the Library - i.e. books, journals etc - for your own personal research or study. You can only make one copy for yourself under copyright law.
If you need to make multiple copies for teaching purposes, this can be done for you under the auspices of the CLA licence by our Copyright Unit - but these copies must be solely for teaching purposes.
You are also limited in how much of the source material is permitted to be copied under this exception:
This is particularly difficult to define, as copyright law as it stands contains no clear definition or explanation of the concepts of 'criticism or 'review'.
Generally criticism is considered to be the act of analysing or judging the literary or artistic quality of something. So, for example, if you were using an image under this defence, you would have to demonstrate an active criticism of the image itself, rather than using it to illustrate a point or for decorative purposes.
Reviewing some form of copyrighted work would mean writing a critical article or report on the material, such as book reviews or critiques of paintings/photographs/films etc. For example, film review programmes can use clips from a film they are reviewing without permission from the copyright holders.
However, this copyright defence is quite tenuous and difficult to define, so it is always best to seek permission where possible.
You are free to use almost any material, except printed musical scores, without permission, in your examination papers, as long as the material is accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement.
You can also use copyrighted material in your teaching, as long as your use is subject to fair dealing - i.e. you are not using any more than is necessary to illustrate your point; the use must be directly related to what you are teaching, rather than for decorative purposes or effect; you must not use the work in any kind of derogatory or negative way (unless you are actively critiquing it); your use must not impact on commercial sales of the original or render the need for students' to purchase their own copies unnecessary; your use must always acknowledge the source.
A guide called a Code of Fair Practice for the Use of Audiovisual Works in Film Education has recently been created to help academics understand the UK copyright implications when legally using audiovisual materials for educational purposes. Designed by Bartolomeo Meletti from Learning on Screen, Chris Morrison from Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford and Jane Secker from City, University of London with input and feedback from distinguished film academics across the UK. This is a really useful, easy to understand guide for academics to understand how certain copyright exceptions in the UK can allow the use of audiovisual works for educational purposes, which are not currently available under one of our licenced platforms, such as BoB.
You are permitted to show any film, television or sound recording in class as long as the following criteria are met:
The University also subscribes to a number of licences that extend the range and amount of material that can be copied beyond what is currently permitted under copyright law. You can find more information on the licences held on the Licences page.
