It is essential to tackle the issue of copyright at the outset of any co-production or user-generated content project. Providing assurance for users as to what the work can be used for, and in what ways, is critical especially where content is produced by a number of authors and consists of work from a variety of sources.
This Blog gives some pointers on good copyright practice and recommends using the Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-NC-SA) – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ to establish certainty for authors, rights holders and users.
Do’s
Ask about copyright – make sure to query:
- Who owns copyright in the work of the individual that is contributing?
- Who owns copyright in any work (stuff) that they are providing that belongs to someone else (third parties)?
Don’ts
- Don’t assume that someone contributing work owns the rights to that work.
- Don’t assume that someone contributing work knows who owns the rights to that work.
1. Where the copyright is owned (or might be owned) by someone’s employer, college or university
The individual’s own work
If authors are contributing their own work, ask that they agree to make the work available under the Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-NC-SA) – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/. This maximises the opportunity for sharing and reuse.
Using other people’s content
If authors are contributing any work (content) that belongs to someone other than themselves where ownership of copyright is uncertain, flag that the rights-owner needs to be identified. The rights to re-use this particular work must be agreed so that the output can be made available under the Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-NC-SA) – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.
Clearance
If authors are contributing any work (content) that belongs to someone other than themselves where ownership of copyright is known, then you should determine what re-use is permitted under the copyright notice or licence attaching to that content.
Usually, such content would not have rights attached that would enable it to be re-used and made available under the Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). However, it is possible to ask the rightsholder to permit the particular re-use under these conditions. The term for this is ‘clearance’ and retaining documented evidence that such permission has been obtained is recommended as good practice.
Guidance on ‘clearance’ and obtaining permissions and who and what to ask is available in the Society of Authors copyright guidance here –https://www.societyofauthors.org/SOA/MediaLibrary/SOAWebsite/Guides/Guide-to-Copyright-and-Permissions.pdf.
Employees
If the author is employed, it is likely that their employer will own copyright in their work. So ask the author to get their employer to agree to licence the rights in this particular work under the Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-NC-SA) – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ indicating that this maximises the opportunity for sharing and reuse. In the same way retaining documented evidence that such permission has been obtained is recommended as good practice.
Re-use by means of the copyright exceptions
In certain limited circumstances known as copyright exceptions, re-use of portions of other people’s work is permitted without needing to get their permission. This includes for example, for criticism and review and a more general exception for quotation. There are also exceptions for teaching and learning. For more detail on the copyright exceptions and lawful re-use in this area see the information on the Copyright user website here – https://www.copyrightuser.org/understand/exceptions/.
However, where you are using substantial portions of someone else’s work in your project, rather than using exceptions, it is recommended that you obtain permission in the form of a licence such as the Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-NC-SA) – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.
2. Where copyright is owned by the individual, what assurances do we need to give them?
Jisc aims to allow its published content to be re-used under the terms of the Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-NC-SA) – https://www.jisc.ac.uk/website/copyright. This maximises the opportunity for sharing and re-use.
- Allowing the licensed use in this way, by the individual, means that others may copy, share, remix, adapt, and build on the material in any medium or format.
- Someone re-using the individual’s work can only share and make the material available under the same terms.
- As copyright owner, the individual author has the right to indicate how they want to be acknowledged. The Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-NC-SA) licence requires that the source and author must be given appropriate credit.
- Further, the Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-NC-SA) licence means that the author retains the option to re-use the work for commercial purposes. Releasing their work under this particular Creative Commons licence does not prevent them exploiting the same work commercially in the future or at the same time.
3. When content is an original product of the group coming together for the project – what rights do we want to attach to the output?
As said above, Jisc aims to allow its published content to be re-used under the terms of the Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-NC-SA) – https://www.jisc.ac.uk/website/copyright. This maximises the opportunity for sharing and re-use.
For this to happen the rights in the various components of the materials that are used to generate Jisc published content need to be consistent with the CC BY-NC-SA licence. This means that where any third party owned content is included it must be cleared for re-use in line with the CC BY-NC-SA licence.
Copyright community
The JiscMail (https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/) list that is central to discussion of copyright matters in the education sector is called LIS-COPYSEEK@JISCMAIL.AC.UK. It is a closed discussion list/community of practice. In order to subscribe to the list and its archive you need to send a request to join to the email address LIS-COPYSEEK-request@jiscmail.ac.uk.
Further guidance
Copyright User https://www.copyrightuser.org/about-us/ is an independent online resource intended to make UK copyright law accessible to creators, media professionals, entrepreneurs, students, and members of the public.
See Natasha’s blog for more on managing collaborative content projects.
Photo by Joanjo Pavon on Unsplash