Copyright and Licensing

Legal issues associated with electronic resource access and

usage

Objectives

• To review of copyright and licensing within the electronic environment

• To review license terms and conditions and their implications for a library

• To review legal and contractual responsibilities

• To consider best practice and policy development

Copyright reminder• What is copyright?

– Copyright law exists to protect the intellectual standing and the economic rights of creators and publishers of all literary, dramatic, artistic, musical, audio-visual and electronic works.

• How long does copyright last?– In general, copyright of published literary, dramatic

and musical works lasts for 70 years after the end of the year in which the author or creator dies.

Copyright and academia

• “Fair use” and “fair dealing”– fair dealing ... for the purposes of research

or private study

• But this is not defined clearly– it is usually understood to permit the

copying of "one article from a journal/periodical, or ... no more than 5% of a given work, whichever is the greater"

Copyright of electronic resources

• Electronic materials are copyrighted in the same manner as print materials.

• ‘Fair use’ and ‘research and study’ exceptions apply

• Licenses terms and conditions may also apply

Agreements and licences• All electronic resources will be subject

to some licence or access agreement• Each resource or package will have a

specific agreement• Specific contractual agreements should

be available from each supplier/publisher

• Copyright and terms of use are often included online (read them!)

Types of license agreement• Institutional license• Restricted or unrestricted number of users

– A number of packages may restrict numbers of simultaneous users

• Restricted number of institutional licenses• Registered users (free and paid for)• Countrywide and/or sector wide access

PERI access agreements• All resources available through PERI have a

countrywide access license– The license has been paid for so materials are

available to anyone in non-commercial environments in the whole country

• The one exception is CAB and CAB-Health and SilverPlatter – these are based on institutional licenses– These are limited to agreed institutions and all of

their component parts

Prohibited activities• Downloading and copying entire issues or

volumes of any journal;• Commercial use of journal content, including

but not limited to, providing a fee-for-copying service;

• Altering, obscuring or removing copyright and other proprietary notices which appear as part of the journal service or appear alongside journal content.

Examples of misuse• Downloading full text articles and emailing

them to friends outside the institution• People from commercial companies using

library facilities to access resources• Printing out entire electronic journals and

making copies• Including large parts of articles in student

workbook materials

It is important that copyright and IPR rules are not broken on an institutional level….

Discouraging prohibited activities

• Have an institutional or at the very least a library copyright policy

• Basic awareness—provide some basic help and guidance to help your users understand the issues

• Training of users—perhaps more detailed training for librarians?

• Accept that there will be some breaches of copyright but ensure they don’t come about due to institutional policy or procedure

Summary

• Copyright is important

• Licensing agreements with publishers are legally binding

• Serious breaches of license agreements could mean withdrawal of that service

• Copyright holders expect minor “abuse” of copyright but are unlikely to tolerate significant breaches

Background reading• Guidelines for Fair Dealing in an Electronic Environment

– http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/elib/papers/pa/fair/• Fair Dealing and Permitted Actions

– http://www.jisc.ac.uk/legal/fair_dealing.html• Coping with Copyright in Cyberspace

– http://www.jisc.ac.uk/legal/events01/011029_sn.ppt• Copyright Management for Scholarship

– http://www.surf.nl/copyright/• 10 Big Myths about copyright explained

– http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html

Thank youAny questions?