Image by Freepik.

So far this Fair Dealing Week we have addressed a few common beliefs around what is ‘fair’ when using copyright materials. It is often thought, for example, that as long as the source is acknowledged or the use is non-commercial, it is OK to reproduce someone else’s work without permission.

This post is about the commonly asked question of quantity. How much from a work (e.g. book, article, thesis, blog post) can be reproduced in another work under ‘fair dealing’? It is often recommended that 5% (at most 10%) can definitely be used.

It is perhaps more accurate to think that, say, 5% from a source is likely to be fair in many cases, and use this percentage as a rule of thumb. However, this is still not helpful: it is not defined in the legislation how much can be used under fair dealing. How much is ‘fair’ is defined and shaped in court decisions. The quantity used (e.g. the number of extracts from a single source) and the proportion in relation to the whole original work, but also to the new work, should be taken into account. The amount used should be justified by the purpose, making related decisions a matter of judgement and risk.

This is probably why we all tend to have an appetite for set percentages when relying on copyright exceptions  – for example, like the 10%/one chapter rule specified in the CLA licence when using course materials. Our appetite for percentages is an appetite for clarity and certainty. This, however, is incompatible with ‘fair dealing’ as a concept. It is also likely to limit us, rather than help us, when making copyright-related decisions. In some contexts, it may be considered fair to use more than a prescribed percentage would suggest – and in other cases, what is deemed fair may be less. Developing a broader understanding of copyright as it applies to research and teaching helps make more nuanced decisions and ultimately be more creative when using copyright materials.

Learn more.

1. Complete our 7-question copyright exceptions quiz.

This is to help you understand copyright exceptions better: you can submit answers anonymously and we won’t be using your responses for any purpose.

2. Register for one of our sessions, on Teams or in person.

Our sessions cover copyright for PGRs, research staff and teaching staff; open licences; and publishing contracts. Sessions last up to 1 hour and 20 minutes.

3. Complete the Copyright Essentials online tutorial.

A self-paced, online tutorial introducing copyright in a fun and approachable way. It takes around 20-25 minutes to complete.

Further reading: quotation, criticism and review, copyrightuser website 

Contact copyright support at copyright@ucl.ac.uk to ask a question, arrange an appointment or schedule your own training session.

Free Clip Art, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

On day 3 of  Fair Dealing Week (26 February to 1 March 2024) we discuss another aspect of ‘fair dealing’ when using copyright materials: non-commercial use.

It is often assumed that, unless you making money from a work, it is OK to include copyright materials in the work without permission. ‘Non-commercial’ use (and/or acknowledging the source, as discussed in the previous post) is often deemed to be ‘fair dealing’.

It may be useful to keep the following in mind:

• Fair dealing does not preclude commercial use. As discussed in a previous post, whether using a work is ‘fair dealing’ depends on many factors, including the purpose (which is related to UK copyright exceptions), the amount and proportion of the material used in that particular context and, crucially, the effect the use is likely to have on the interests of the author/copyright owner. As many of these interests are economic (i.e. when your use is likely to affect sales of the original work) it is perhaps easy to assume that ‘non-commercial’ use is more likely to be fair.  However, this does not mean that any commercial use is not ‘fair’.
• Posting a work on the Internet is ‘commercial publication’. In UK copyright law, ‘making the work available to the public by means of an electronic retrieval system’, in other words, electronic publication, is considered to be a commercial activity even if you don’t profit from it financially.
• Non-commercial use is a restriction when relying on certain exceptions, but not others. Copying material for research and private study or as part of teaching may be permitted in UK copyright law, as long as the purpose is not commercial and the use is ‘fair dealing’. Copying and reusing material  for the purposes of criticism, review and quotation (and news reporting) does, not, however, have a non-commercial restriction. The use must still be ‘fair dealing’ and this may well restrict what and how much  you decide to share; however the use can, indeed, be commercial. This is useful to know as you will most likely be relying on the quotation exception when including material in theses, research publications  and teaching materials.

Learn more.

1. Complete our 7-question copyright exceptions quiz.

This is to help you understand copyright exceptions better: you can submit answers anonymously and we won’t be using your responses for any purpose.

2. Register for one of our sessions, on Teams or in person.

Our sessions cover copyright for PGRs, research staff and teaching staff; open licences; and publishing contracts. Sessions last up to 1 hour and 20 minutes.

3. Complete the Copyright Essentials online tutorial.

A self-paced, online tutorial introducing copyright in a fun and approachable way. It takes around 20-25 minutes to complete.

You can also contact copyright support at copyright@ucl.ac.uk to ask a question, arrange an appointment or schedule your own training session.

Image by Freepik.

On the second day of  Fair Dealing Week (26 February to 1 March 2024) we discuss a point that often comes up in copyright training sessions.

‘If I acknowledge the author, I don’t need to get their permission’.

Acknowledgement is essential, but permission is still necessary.

Acknowledgement of any sources used is good academic practice, besides any requirements set out in copyright legislation. Even when materials are out of copyright (public domain) you are still advised to give acknowledgement where possible.

However, this does not remove the need to have permission. When a work is protected by copyright, getting permission is necessary by default. A granted permission or licence specifies exactly how, when and where you will be using the material and often indicates how credit should be given, too (for example, by linking to an artist’s website).

Seeking permission is not necessary when a licence covering your reuse is already in place. This includes open licences, such as Creative Commons licences, which allow you to use materials under specific terms and with attribution to the author.

What about copyright exceptions?

When it comes to copyright exceptions, the three main exceptions relevant to research and teaching (non-commercial research and private study; criticism, review and quotation; illustration for instruction) expect sufficient ackmowledgement (usually including the title and author of the work) as part of dealing with the material fairly – unless this is ‘impossible for reasons of practicality or otherwise’. As discussed in previous posts, ‘fair dealing’ is much more than acknowledgement. It includes a consideration of the purpose and context, amount/proportion used, and impact on the interests of the author/copyright owner.

Learn more.

To learn more about copyright

1. Complete our 7-question copyright exceptions quiz.

This is to help you understand copyright exceptions better: you can submit answers anonymously and we won’t be using your responses for any purpose.

2. Register for one of our sessions, on Teams or in person.

Our sessions cover copyright for PGRs, research staff and teaching staff; open licences; and publishing contracts.

3. Ask us a question.

Contact us to ask a question, arrange an appointment or schedule your own training session.

This year we are marking  Fair Dealing Week (26 February to 1 March 2024) with a series of blog posts addressing some copyright myths. Our first post starts with a simple but important message.

‘Free to access’ does not necessarily mean ‘free to reuse’.

You are in the middle of preparing a thesis chapter, a journal article, a pice of coursework or a lecture. You want to include materials created by others: photos, diagrams, text, or video. Some of these materials are publicly available on the web: an image you found in a Google search, a publicly available website, a Youtube video. Do you need permission to reuse them?

The default answer is ‘yes’. Unless it is clear – via a statement or licence – that you can reuse the material, by default you need to to ask the copyright owner for permission to reproduce, share or adapt the material in your own work.

There is a common misconception about images discovered on the Inernet. If they are free to view and download, surely they are also free to reuse, for example share on social media, include in an article or insert in presentation slides? The answer is ‘no’: this is not the case. For example, to reuse this illustration by artist Marloes de Vries (which sums up the issue really well) I got permission – not only because not doing so could result in a take-down notice and/or the payment of a fine but also, crucially, because it would be disrespectful to their work to do otherwise. You can read more on this from the artist.

Image created by Marloes De Vries: https://marloesdevries.com/blog/copyright-infringement/. Reproduced with the artist’s permission.

What about using material under ‘fair dealing’?

In the UK, you may be able to rely on certain copyright exceptions to use limited amounts of materials without permission: these include copying for your own private study, using materials to illustrate a point in teaching, and including materials in the context of a thesis or article etc. Relying on these exceptions is subject to ‘fair dealing’: thinking of whether, by using the material, you are being fair and honest. You need to think

• how well your use is supported by the exception
• whether the extent of your use is justified by your purpose (for example, are you using more than you need to explain something in a presentation or support an argument in a paper?)
• whether your use is at odds with the interests (economic or otherwise) of the author.

Copyright exceptions exist in the legislation for a reason. You are encouraged to consider using them in the context of your research and teaching. To rely on them with more confidence, you may want to learn more about them. Here are three things you can do:

1. Complete our 7-question copyright exceptions quiz.

This is to help you understand copyright exceptions better: you can submit answers anonymously and we won’t be using your responses for any purpose.

2. Register for one of our sessions, on Teams or in person.

Our sessions cover copyright for PGRs, research staff and teaching staff; open licences; and publishing contracts.

3. Ask us a question.

Contact us to ask a question, arrange an appointment or schedule your own training session.

Square puzzle: Open Clipart, public domain. Text added by C. Daoutis.

Fair Dealing Week (26 February to 1 March 2024) is an annual opportunity to highlight copyright exceptions and how you may rely on them when using copyright materials in your studies, research and teaching. Although the main focus of the week is on ‘fair use’ in the US – quite different from ‘fair dealing’ – in previous years events were organised across countries with similar provisions, including the UK.

This year we will be marking fair dealing with a series of blog posts that discuss three copyright exceptions in UK copyright law that are subject to what we call ‘fair dealing’. We are also running a Q and A session on Monday the 26th of February at 2 pm at the UCL Institute of Education. 

Register for the copyright exceptions Q and A

When using materials created by others (text, images, video etc) you normally need permission or a licence from the copyright owner. There are, however, other options to consider. In some cases, materials are in the public domain, either because copyright has expired or because the copyright owner has waived the copyright – as is the case in the square puzzle image used here. In other cases, materials are in copyright but are available under an open licence, allowing reuse under certain terms. Examples include open access articles, images available under a Creative Commons licence, and open source software.

In specific cases, you may also be able to use materials without permission by relying on ‘permitted acts’ (also known as copyright exceptions) which are defined in UK copyright law. Some of these exceptions are subject to ‘fair dealing’, which essentially means treating the materials in a ‘fair-minded and honest’ way.  It is essential to understand how you can rely on copyright exceptions as this will help you use materials in a more flexible way. To help you test your knowledge, we have put together a 7-question quiz on copyright exceptions.

Take our new copyright exceptions quiz

Whether you are already a pro at fair dealing exceptions or would like to know more, look out for more copyright posts next week. We also hope you can join the Q and A on Monday!