On this page

• What is copyright?
• Duration of copyright
• Copyright exceptions
• Fair dealing
• Risk management
• Attributing images
• AI and copyright
• Copyright law and guidance
• Licenses

 

What is copyright?

Copyright is an automatic legal right assigned to the creator of an original creative work. It is a type of 'intellectual property right', and gives the creator the right to decide who can copy, adapt or share their work. The main UK legislation in this area is the Copyright Design and Patents Act 1988. 

Copyright can exist in any of the following types of work:

• literary
• dramatic
• musical
• artistic
• sound recording
• film
• broadcast
• published editions

If you want to copy a work that is protected by copyright you will need either the creator's permission or a license. There are also certain exceptions to copyright; these are circumstances in which permission is not needed to use a work. 

 

Duration of copyright

The duration of copyright depends on various factors which include the type of work, who created it, and when the work was created or published. An overview of types of works and their duration - as well as exceptions to these general rules of duration - is available from the Intellectual Property Office website. Remember, copyright protects only the expression of ideas, not the ideas themselves.

 

Copyright exceptions

UK legislation provides some exceptions to copyright protection which allow you to reuse copyrighted material in certain circumstances. Some of these are particularly relevant to education and research. It is important to ensure you are using the exceptions in a way that be considered fair dealing. Fair dealing generally means that your use of a work is not a substitution for the original, and that you have only used the amount necessary. 

The following exceptions can be found in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

Research or private study (section 29)

Make a copy for your own study or non-commercial research within the limits of 'fair dealing'.

Text and data analysis / mining (section 29a)

Provided you already have legal access to a work, then you may copy it and use it for text and data analysis. This must be for non-commercial research.

Criticism, review, and quotation (section 30)

You can quote a work as long as it meets the criteria for fair dealing. This usually means a small extract of a work, however there may be cases where it is fair to quote a whole work, e.g. a short poem.

Caricature, parody, and pastiche (section 30A)

You can use copyright materials as part of creating caricature, parody, or pastiche, but the use must be fair dealing. 

Accessibility (section 31A-F)

Allows for the creation of accessible copies for someone with a disability. For example, the creation of a digital copy that is compatible with a screen reader, or a transcript of an audio recording. 

Illustration for instruction (section 32)

You can use copyright materials in teaching, as long as it meets the criteria for “fair dealing”. For example, adding an extract of a work to a PowerPoint presentation is fine, but uploading a whole text to Blackboard is not.  

Educational performance (section 34)

This allows the showing of copyright works in an educational institution for educational purposes. It only applies if the audience is limited to teachers, students and other staff connected to the teaching activity and does not include members of the public or parents. It does not allow showing works for entertainment. For example, you can show a documentary or film as part of a unit, but not for a social event.

Recording by educational establishments of broadcasts (section 35)

Educational establishments may record broadcasts from television or radio for educational purposes. 

Copying and use of extracts of works by educational establishments (section 36)

Universities can copy extracts of a work for teaching, as long as it is not for commercial purposes. The original work must be acknowledged. The Act restricts educational institutions to no more than 5% of a work in a 12 month period.

As well as this exception, our licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency allows you to create copies of works for use in teaching. Generally, you are allowed to copy one chapter of a book or two articles from a journal to add to a reading list. The library's Resource List team can help you with this and ensure that you are reproducing works in line with copyright.  

 

Fair dealing

For some copyright exceptions you need to consider if the use of the work is 'fair dealing'. This is a legal term, but there is no strict definition and it is dealt with on a case by case basis. It involves an element of risk management, and it is advisable to consider:

• How would a fair person have dealt with this?
• Does your usage act as a substitute to the original work? May it cause a loss of revenue?
• Did you use a reasonable amount of the work? Usually copyright exceptions only allow you to reproduce part of a work.
• How would you feel if your work was used in this way?

For further guidance, consult the government guidance on fair dealing in relation to copyright exceptions.

 

Risk management

When assessing whether you may be at risk infringing copyright, it is advisable to consult the guidance on these webpages, as well as the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act and the government's guidance. 

Sometimes it is clear whether something is or is not protected by copyright, but in most cases there will be an element of risk management needed in order to make an informed decision and reduce risk. Consider:

• who is the audience?
• who might reasonably object to your use?
• what penalties or reputational repercussions might there be?

If in doubt, it is advisable to seek permission from the copyright owner. 

 

Attributing images

If you are reusing an image in your work then you need to include an attribution in the caption for the image. You create the caption as follows:

• Images should be labelled as figures, numbered in consecutive order e.g. figure 1, figure 2, figure 3.
• You should then include the title of the image and the information about the author and its origin.
• Use the format: Title, Creator, Source, Licence.
  
  • e.g. Figure 1: Image Title, Creator, Source, Licence/copyright information
• This label should be placed underneath the image
• When you are discussing the image in your work, you can state 'see figure 1'. If you are citing other information from the source, make sure you include a citation as usual.
• Make sure you include a full reference list as you would for any other source you have included in your work.

 

AI and copyright

NB: There is a great deal of uncertainty around AI and copyright and as such this section is a work in progress which we will update as developments occur.

Generative AI tools are trained on large datasets using materials (text, images, audio, video code etc.) that are protected by copyright. The use of copyrighted material to train AI tools without permission from owners could infringe copyright and there are several ongoing lawsuits from rightsholders seeking compensation from technology companies on this issue.

From a user perspective there is also the question of who owns the content generated by AI? Unlike many other countries, UK law protects computer-generated works which could potentially include works generated using Gen-AI tools, but it is important to note that at present this is a grey area.

As well as the user whose prompts generated the content, the AI tool itself or the creator of the tool might be deemed to be the copyright owner. There is also potential for the tool to generate something similar to a protected work leading to a possible copyright infringement. As mentioned above, authors whose material was used to train the tool may also have claim to ownership.

 So, what should you do?

The outcome of ongoing litigation will provide further clarity and governments are looking to produce guidelines and legislation. For now, in the absence of legal certainty, there are a few things as a researcher at the University that you can do:

• Acknowledge and reference your use of AI tools as you would other sources, to avoid plagiarism.
• Make yourself aware of the University position on the use of AI and academic integrity and keep yourself up to date with wider developments where possible.
• Check the terms and conditions of any Gen-AI tool you use to ascertain where the copyright ownership of outputs lie.

Copyright law and guidance

Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

Copyright law in the UK is set out in this act.

Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA)

The University has a licence from the CLA which allows staff and students to make and share copies of certain works, subject to compliance with the terms of the licence. 

Intellectual Property Office

For services, guidance, and regulation relating to intellectual property, including copyright.

Copyright User

An excellent online resource designed to help make UK copyright law accessible to members of the public.

 

Licenses

CLA Higher Education Licence

Creative Commons Licenses

ERA (Educational Recording Agency) Licence

Higher Education Printed Music Licence

Open Government Licence