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Copyright: Application of Exceptions
Application of Exceptions
Copyright law varies significantly across countries, governed by national laws that are influenced by international treaties and directives. These differences include the duration of copyright protection and how laws facilitate the flow of information, knowledge, and culture.
Signatory states of the Bern Convention (1886) ensure automatic copyright protection, a minimum duration of 50 years post-creator’s death, and certain free uses or exceptions that local laws will define.
Understanding and navigating these laws allows us to ethically and effectively manage copyright in our global educational efforts.
Understanding Fair Dealing in UK Copyright Law
Fair dealing in UK law permits the reuse of third-party material “as much as a fair-minded and honest person would deem it, and it is not an excuse to infringe copyright.”
Common Law System: The UK’s legal system is based on common law, meaning court judgments and precedents define laws. This makes concepts like “fair-minded and honest” and “just” challenging to measure, often requiring judicial interpretation.
Factors Considered:
- Market Impact: Does the use affect the market for the original work?
- Amount Used: Is the quantity of work taken reasonable and appropriate?
- Necessity: Was it necessary to use the amount taken?
When parties disagree, these factors are deliberated in court, and the resulting judgments set precedents for future cases.
Watch out!
Watch out for handed-down material, avoid plagiarism and consider academic rigour and how you make the work available to others
- Copy only if you have lawful access to the work
- Acknowledgements of the source and copyright owner (see guidance)
- Original copyright ownership is retained
- No commercial exploitation unless specifically allowed
Exceptions apply only to a specific use and rarely apply to a whole work
Copyright Exceptions Permitted by UK Law
| Research and private study | You can make a single copy of a fair dealing amount for non-commercial research or private study. |
| Illustration for instruction | You can copy part of a work to illustrate a teaching point, including a short snippet of a video in a presentation if the snippet is integral to the teaching point that you are making. |
| Caricature, parody or pastiche | You can use a few lines from a song to create a parody sketch or small amounts of a film to make a larger pastiche work. |
| Incidental inclusion of copyright material | You can incidentally include an artistic work, sound recording, film or broadcast. Excludes the deliberate inclusion of audio (such as musical work, words spoken or sung with music, or a sound recording or broadcast). |
| Accessible copies for disabled users | It clashes with accessibility regulations; see the Disability Support Guide. |
| Criticism, review, quotation and news reporting | Criticism: using low-resolution versions of artworks in a thesis to discuss a theme Review: using sentences from a newly published book to review it Quotation: using a line of poetry as a decorative backdrop for a poetry event |
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