Having blogged about the fair dealing exception for copying for the purposes of instruction (updated Section 32 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988), it may seem confusing to introduce yet another exception for “Copying of extracts by educational establishments”, but there it is, the revised CDPA, Section 36. The distinctive features are:

• No fair dealing test, defined limits instead, namely a maximum of 5% of a given work in any 12 months period for each institution.
• Must be for instruction “for a non-commercial purpose”
• Can only be used when there is no licence available to cover our use of the work in question.

Particular advantages:

• We are explicitly permitted to upload the extracts onto a VLE (such as Moodle) by this exception, including remote access for UCL students not on the premises.
• Covers any copyright work apart from broadcasts and stand-alone artistic works (such as photographs and paintings)
• Offers an opening to use a work which is not covered by a licence. Examples would be a book which is excluded from the CLA licence by the publisher or an extract from any film, since there is currently no blanket licence available which would cover that usage.

This is an exception to be used with caution. In particular there may be difficulties in monitoring the limitation of 5% of a work in any 12 month period. In specific circumstances however it could prove very useful.  Extracts would be best added to an online reading list, using the Library’s Course readings service.

Whilst Chris is unpacking the new amendments to the CDPA to explain how it will affect UCL teaching and learning, we have also been looking at the other side of the coin: resources which can be used in teaching.  Below are two resources that can be linked to for educational purposes, without infringing copyright. Neither are copyright-free or in the public domain, however they allow specific usage that can be fantastically useful in teaching.

BoB National: Box of Broadcasts

Teaching staff were very enthusiastic about this during a successful trial, and UCL has now taken a subscription.  BoB gives access to 60+ TV and radio channels.  You can request programmes you have missed, ‘record’ upcoming programmes and create clips.  These are saved to BoB indefinitely, for all BoB users to view.

To log in select ‘UCL’ from the institutions list, and use your usual UCL ID and password.  There are video tutorials or you can just start browsing.

• You can: view, share, and create clips.
• You cannot: view from outside the UK. Download or store on your computer.

British Pathe Archive

This newly available resource is open access; that is, it is available online to view for free.  British Pathe has had its entire collection digitised under a National Lottery grant and this is now available via their YouTube channel.

This archive makes available film clips from significant global historical events, including first and second World Wars, the Hiroshima bombing, Suffragette action and footage of the Titanic.  There is footage of the first mobile phone (1922) and features on travel, fashion and celebrities.

• You can: view and share the film clips (e.g. using the Twitter / Facebook etc. ‘share’ buttons).
• You cannot: play in the classroom, or download and store.  Pathe advertisements are included.

Open access resources are especially useful for teaching on open online courses (such as UCL eXtend, or CPD courses), where students are not registered at UCL and therefore unable to access UCL-subscribed resources.  Do make sure the links are stable for your students, and perhaps consider using ReadingLists@UCL to keep links to your teaching resources in one place.

The Fair Dealing test has been mentioned before in this blog. The majority of the recently updated exceptions to copyright rely upon this test and so it is in the spot light, although it was already an established concept in UK Copyright law.

In contrast to the concept of “fair use” in US copyright law, which can be applied generally, “fair dealing” in UK copyright law is only relevant in the context of the statutory exceptions. It is a test of whether we are applying the exception correctly and therefore of whether we can rely upon it for protection.

The UK Intellectual Property Office say: “There is no statutory definition of fair dealing – it will always be a matter of fact, degree and impression in each case. The question to be asked is: how would a fair-minded and honest person have dealt with the work?”* Therefore it will always depend upon the context, but two key questions will generally apply:

• Could we be damaging the copyright owner’s interests by our use of their work? For example by producing something in direct competition?
• Are we using more of their work than is really necessary in the particular circumstances.

By way of example, copying an extract for the purposes of setting an examination may be fair dealing whereas reproducing the same material in a published work under the Quotation exception (which applies from 1^st October)might not be fair dealing.

*IPO (2014),Exceptions to Copyright: Guidance for creators and copyright owners

The examination exception is part of the exception for purposes of “illustration for instruction” (CDPA 1988 Section 32). The new Section 32 is very good news but in relation to examinations it is more restrictive. The old exception permitting copying for setting or completing an examination was unrestricted. Now the fair dealing test applies to the whole section including copying for examinations. What does this mean?  In the examination context it is unlikely that we would be damaging the economic interests of the rights owner. The main thing to bear in mind is that in setting examinations we should not include more of the work than is strictly necessary and it should be acknowledged where possible. A positive aspect is that the exception now covers all media, such as an extract of recorded music or of a film.  

The examination exception covers 3^rd party material included in a PhD thesis. The student should be aware that in including 3^rd party material they need to apply the fair dealing test, key questions being:

• Am I using more of the work than is really necessary for the purpose?
• Could I be damaging the interests of the copyright owner by reproducing their work in this way?

Remember that the examination exception does not cover subsequent publication of your thesis in UCL Discovery or reusing the same content in a journal article. You will need to consider applying for permission or publishing a redacted version