Research & Scholarly Publications Team: Copyright and Licensing

Major research funders such as UKRI and Wellcome Trust require that articles which acknowledge their research funding be made subject to a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence. The Wellcome Trust have required this licence to apply by default to publications made available via either the 'Gold' or 'Green' open access routes since the 1st January 2021. UKRI are requiring that this licence applies to articles made Open Access via both the 'Gold' and 'Green' OA routes from April 2022.

Further information on Creative Commons licences is available on the Creative Commons website.

Other Types of Open Licence

Open Government Licence (OGL)

Can apply to works which are ‘crown copyright’ and produced by UK government bodies. An Open Government licence is equivalent to a CC BY licence in allowing a user to:

•  ‘copy, publish, distribute and transmit the Information’
• ‘adapt the Information’
• ‘exploit the Information commercially and non-commercially for example, by combining it with other Information, or by including it in your own product or application’

Above uses are permitted on the condition that due acknowledgement and attribution is provided.

CopyLeft Licensing

Most commonly applied in the field of software, Copyleft principles permit the free distribution and modification of the original work under the proviso that the same rights be applied to any derivative work created from the original. This is equivalent to the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (CC BY-SA) licence.

Certain exceptions only apply if the use of the work is a ‘fair dealing’. For example, the exceptions relating to research and private study, criticism or review, or news reporting.

‘Fair dealing’ is a legal term used to establish whether a use of copyright material is lawful or whether it infringes copyright. 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?

Factors that have been identified by the courts as relevant in determining whether a particular dealing with a work is fair include:

• does using the work affect the market for the original work? If a use of a work acts as a substitute for it, causing the owner to lose revenue, then it is not likely to be fair
• is the amount of the work taken reasonable and appropriate? Was it necessary to use the amount that was taken? Usually only part of a work may be used

The relative importance of any one factor will vary according to the case in hand and the type of dealing in question.

Information taken from the UK Government guidance around copyright exceptions. 

For examples around specific exceptions which come under Fair Dealing, please see the boxes below.

If your use of a copyrighted work goes beyond the ‘fair dealing’ principles outlined, then permission ought to be sought from the rights holder for us to include it in the version of your thesis which is distributed online.  ​

Step 1) Identify who the rights holder(s) are ​

Step 2) Write to formally request permission – a template letter is available on our libguide​ below

Step 3) Allow time for a response - a lack of response from a rights holder cannot be taken to indicate that their permission has been granted​

Step 4) Conduct any correspondence in writing and maintain records

Resources for finding Rights Holder Information

• The Society of Authors (useful for tracing the estates of literary writers)
• WATCH (Writers Artists and their Copyright Holders)
• Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS)

More information is available via the Copyright User website.

• Copyright User is a multimedia resource aimed at helping creators, media professionals and the general public understand copyright. A joint collaboration between CREATe and Bournemouth University, Copyright User consists of videos, interactive tools, subject resources, and FAQs. The resources are meant for everyone who uses copyright: musicians, filmmakers, performers, writers, visual artists or interactive developers. It informs creators how to protect their work, how to license and exploit it, and how to legally re-use the work of others.
• Copyright Literacy provides useful educational resources and help to promote a range of relevant events and webinars aimed at University and education sector staff.
• Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is the official government body responsible for IP rights in the UK, includes patents, designs, trademarks and copyright information
• CREATe is the RCUK Centre for Copyright and New Business Models in the Creative Economy, based at the University of Glasgow. It is funded jointly by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). CREATe investigates the future of creative production in the digital age, and in particular the role of copyright.
• The IP Kat Blog examines topical issues around copyright and wider intellectual property. If a copyright dispute has made it into the news odds are there will be an article about it here!
• The 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act is available online. For more information about the range of 'exceptions' introduced to the law in 2014 please see this guidance.

There is an exception to copyright that permits people to use limited amounts of copyright material without the owner’s permission for the purpose of parody, caricature or pastiche.

For example a comedian may use a few lines from a film or song for a parody sketch; a cartoonist may reference a well known artwork or illustration for a caricature; an artist may use small fragments from a range of films to compose a larger pastiche artwork.

It is important to understand, however, that this exception only permits use for the purposes of caricature, parody, or pastiche to the extent that it is fair dealing.

Text and data mining is the use of automated analytical techniques to analyse text and data for patterns, trends and other useful information. Text and data mining usually requires copying of the work to be analysed.

An exception to copyright exists which allows researchers to make copies of any copyright material for the purpose of computational analysis if they already have the right to read the work (that is, they have ‘lawful access’ to the work). This exception only permits the making of copies for the purpose of text and data mining for non-commercial research. Researchers will still have to buy subscriptions to access material; this could be from many sources including academic publishers.

Publishers and content providers will be able to apply reasonable measures to maintain their network security or stability but these measures should not prevent or unreasonably restrict researcher’s ability to text and data mine. Contract terms that stop researchers making copies to carry out text and data mining will be unenforceable.

You are allowed to copy limited extracts of works when the use is non-commercial research or private study, but you must be genuinely studying (like you would if you were taking a college course). Such use is only permitted when it is ‘fair dealing’ and copying the whole work would not generally be considered fair dealing.

The purpose of this exception is to allow students and researchers to make limited copies of all types of copyright works for non-commercial research or private study. In assessing whether your use of the work is permitted or not you must assess if there is any financial impact on the copyright owner because of your use. Where the impact is not significant, the use may be acceptable.

If your use is for non-commercial research you must ensure that the work you reproduce is supported by a sufficient acknowledgement.