General Regulations 2008-09

Regulation 18: Copyright

18.1 Copyright Licensing Agency

18.1.1 In pursuance of its duties under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 which came into force on 1 August 1989 the College has entered into a Licence negotiated on behalf of universities with the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) in respect of certain printed material.

18.1.2 All students and staff are required to observe the conditions of the Licence, which are displayed near all College photocopiers.

18.1.3 Obtaining permission

18.1.3.1 The Reprographic Unit will not undertake unlawful copying and will check with the customer if instructions are received which appear to infringe the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, the Copyright (Visually Impaired Persons) Act 2002 or the CLA Licence. Students and staff must not use any copiers other than those in the Reprographic Unit to make multiple copies of copyright material. Students and staff must not use departmental or other College equipment to make copies which contravene either of the two Acts mentioned above, or the Licence.

18.1.3.2 Where students or staff wish to make copies not covered by either of the two aforementioned Acts, and which are either larger extracts than those outlined in the Licence or types of work listed as prohibited in the Licence and not covered by any other Licence or permission, or for purposes not covered by any Licence or permission, permission must be sought from the copyright owner or their agent (eg publisher). Forms for requesting permission are available from the Reprographic Services Manager, who should be sent copies of all requests made to copyright owners. The Reprographic Unit will require evidence that permission has been given where copying is requested which falls outside the terms of any Licence or the relevant Act.

18.1.3.3 The Copyright Licensing Agency will advise where there is doubt on what constitutes an infringement of the Licence. Such queries should be directed to the College's designated Licensing Co-ordinator, the Librarian, or to the Reprographic Services Manager and not direct to the CLA.

18.2 Design and Artists Copyright Society

18.2.1 In pursuance of its duties under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 which came into force on 1 August 1989 the College has entered into a Licence negotiated on behalf of universities with the Design and Artists Copyright Society Limited (DACS) in respect of the slides of copyright images held in the College Library's slide collection.

18.2.2 All students and staff are required to observe the conditions of the Licence, which are displayed in the Slide Library. Queries should be directed to the College's designated Licensing Co-ordinator, the Librarian, or to the Slide Librarian.

18.3 Educational Recording Agency

18.3.1 In pursuance of its duties under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 which came into force on 1 August 1989 the College has entered into a Licence negotiated on behalf of universities with the Educational Recording Agency in respect of the off air recording of copyright works.

18.3.2 All students and staff are required to observe the conditions of the Licence which are displayed in the Audio-visual Library. Queries should be directed to the College's designated Licensing Co-ordinator, the Librarian.

18.3.3 It is a condition of the licence that recordings may be used only by staff and registered students of the College, and only for educational purposes. Education students may use them on teaching practice, provided that the school also has an ERA licence. Authorised library staff may make reciprocal arrangements with other ERA licensed institutions.

18.4 Mechanical Copyright Protection Society

18.4.1 In pursuance of its duties under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 which came into force on 1 August 1989 the College has entered into a Licence negotiated with the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society in respect of copying from commercially published sound recordings and the recording of live performances of copyright works.

18.4.2 All students and staff are required to observe the conditions of the Licence. Queries should be directed to the College's designated Licensing Co-ordinator, the Librarian.

18.5 Newspaper Licensing Agency

18.5.1 In pursuance of its duties under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 which came into force on 1 August 1989 the College has entered into a Licence negotiated on behalf of universities with the Newspaper Licensing Agency (NLA) in respect of the copying of articles from certain newspapers.

18.5.2 All students and staff are required to observe the conditions of the Licence which are displayed near all College photocopiers. Queries should be directed to the College's designated Licensing Co-ordinator, the Librarian.

18.6 Open University

18.6.1 In pursuance of its duties under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 which came into force on 1 August 1989 the College has entered into a Licence negotiated with Open University Educational Enterprises in respect of the off air recording of Open University broadcasts.

18.6.2 All students and staff are required to observe the conditions of the Licence. Queries should be directed to the College's designated Licensing Co-ordinator, the Librarian or to the Audio-visual Librarian.

18.7 Electronic Resources

18.7.1 Under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 a piece of computer software is regarded for copyright purposes as a 'literary work', but is not covered by the CLA Licence. All computer files containing textual, visual or sound data are subject to the same copying restrictions as material published in other media as is data from electronic information services and resources.

18.7.2 It is the responsibility of staff and students to ensure that they are aware of and abide by the licensing conditions attached to any electronic resource made available to them in or by the College.

18.7.3 Where use of electronic data or software requires explicit acceptance by the user of the conditions under which such material is made available, any attempt to use such material without the required acceptance or any failure to abide by the conditions accepted will constitute a breach of this Regulation.

18.7.4 The College's licences for certain electronic resources, including computer software, may require the use of individual or generic usernames, passwords or licence numbers for access. Individual usernames, passwords or licence numbers must not be divulged to others; generic usernames, passwords or licence numbers must not be divulged to members of College who are not authorised to use them or to persons who are not members of College.

18.7.5 Software

18.7.5.1 All students and staff are required to observe the requirement that software must not be copied or distributed using College facilities, except under one or more of the following conditions:

1. the copy is made for the purposes of security backup only
2. the software user has been explicitly informed by IT Services that they are entitled, on the basis of a multi-user licence issued to the College, to make a copy of the software for use on either a computer in College or a computer at the user's home or both.
3. the software is covered by a licence which allows the user to make a copy of the software unconditionally or under conditions which can and will be met by the user; where an explicit number of permitted copies is specified, users must ensure that this number is not exceeded.

18.7.5.2 The Software Copyright Policy defines the responsibilities of the Director of Information Technology and Heads of Department in ensuring that all software installed on College computers is properly licensed.

18.7.6 Electronic data

18.7.6.1 Staff and students may freely use and/or distribute copyright electronic data only where it is accompanied by an explicit notice from the copyright owner that this is permissible or where its availability without charge or restriction from the copyright owner implies that it may be freely used for non-commercial purposes.

18.7.2 Staff and students are responsible for ensuring that their use of copyright material in electronic form including data derived from digitisation, CD-ROMs, on-line information services and other networked information resources, is legal, and should not assume that material accessible on College computer systems or via the College network is free of copyright restrictions.

18.7.3 Staff and students must not use College facilities to create digital copies from copyright material in other media without the prior written consent of the copyright owner except where a paper copy of the same material put to the same use would be permitted.

18.7.4 Where copyright electronic material originates outside the UK, its copyright status in the UK determines whether copying is permissible or not.

18.7.5 IT Services may be asked to advise on the copyright status of software and electronic data in the first instance.

18.8 Infringements of Copyright

18.8.1 Students and staff will be personally liable to criminal prosecution if they make, or cause to be made, or allow to be made, unlawful copies. Penalties include imprisonment and fines. The College could also be prosecuted if the infringement takes place on College premises.

18.8.2 The College may take disciplinary action against any student or member of staff involved in an infringement of the law or of any copyright licensing agreement which the College has signed.