What happens to my copyright query?

Yes, this query is made up. But we wanted to start this FAQ/Copyright blog with an entry that outlines what happens when a query does arrive and how we work to find an answer.

We ask for as much detail as possible for a reason, almost every case is unique and we will sometimes consult with other copyright advisors or copyright bodies to seek further opinions or clarification. It is useful then to have all the specific details to hand.

Unfortunately, we do often come back with a negative. Legislation has been slow to catch up with technology and how education is exploiting this. So the kind of use that we would like to make of materials is often simply not permitted legally without permission.

Once we receive your query we will be in touch (usually by email) within a couple of days, hopefully with an answer or to advise you that we need to do some more research or pass the query on to be dealt with.

All our advice comes with the familiar disclaimer: “our advice is based on local expertise and widely adopted best practice. Neither these pages, not any advice provided by UCL Library Services staff constitute legal advice”.

We will also be anonymising queries to add to this blog to build a bank of FAQs for other colleagues to refer to. If you would rather we didn’t then please let us know.