Seeking permission from copyright holders

If you are in any doubt that what you want to copy will not be covered under a copyright exception with fair dealing, then you will need to ask permission from the copyright holder, usually that is either the author/creator or the publisher. 

Most reputable sources of information will have some form of publication and/or copyright information statement. Look for the © symbol - on websites it is usually at the bottom of the webpage, in journals and books it is usually on the inside title page. If there is no author or creator listed, try looking for publishers' details. Publisher's websites sometimes have a permissions department, this might be located under the 'Contact Us' section. 

• For US publishers, you may need to use the Copyright Clearance Center to request permission, which represents the interests of many US publishers.
• PLS Clear: When you create an account you can request permission to use content from books, journals and websites. 
• Another useful resource to try is WATCH (Writers, Artists, and Their Copyright Holders), a database of names and addresses of copyright holders or contact information for authors/artists with material housed in archives in America and the UK.

If you cannot find any copyright statement or reference to an author or copyright holder and do not want to spend time and effort tracking down the copyright holder, it may be wise to look for an alternative source of information or image.

If you require advice or assistance in identifying a copyrighter holder, please speak to the Copyright Officer.

Remember to give yourself enough time to get permission. No reply from the copyright holder does not mean you can use the material. You need written copyright permission or a licence for your use. 

What if cannot find the author / creator or copyright holder?

A work where the copyright holder is either unknown or untraceable is known as an 'orphan work'. This often happens when a copyright holder is unaware that they own the copyright to a work, or when a holder has died and it is not clear to whom their work has passed to. Sometimes it may be that a company or organisation has ceased to exist and it is not clear to whom ownership of the work has passed to. Very often it is simply that the work in question bears no stamp or record of ownership.

Unfortunately it is not permitted to use an orphan work simply because a copyright holder is unknown or unreachable. The work is still subject to copyright law, and the risk that a copyright holder may surface and object to the use is too great. Copyright protection for orphan works remains until 2039.

If you cannot find the copyright holder and you still want to use the material/s then you can apply for a licence from the Orphan Works Scheme. 

Requesting copyright permission

To request copyright permission you will need to contract the Rights Holder, this could be the photographer, artist, composer, author or perhaps even the publisher. If you have used any materials from an archive you will need to seek permission if you reproduce any work held by them.

A verbal agreement is difficult to prove legally, best practice would be to request copyright permission in writing. This does not need to be a letter, it can also be an email. When requesting permission to use copyrighted material in your work, you may want to use the following example permission letter as a template. Although this is for a PhD thesis you can amend this to suit your purposes. 

A template for a letter requesting permission for use of copyrighted material.

It is important that you stress the open-access, online nature of the electronic copy of your thesis on UDORA - uploading a document online constitutes publishing it, and doing so without permission is taken seriously by many copyright holders. (For further information on theses please see the menu on the left: Theses and Copyright section.)

Keep a record of all the emails and letters you send, and all the replies.

Make sure to leave plenty of time to obtain all the permissions. If you don't hear back after 6 weeks then repeat your request. Remember no reply does not mean you have copyright permission.

What might the copyright holder's response be?