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Working with copyright

You need to understand, check and work with copyright so you meet standards and stay legal, whether you're using text, images or video.

What is copyright and what does it protect?

Copyright is part of the family of intellectual property rights (IPR) that provides protection over certain types of works. These include journal articles and books (both print and electronic), websites and blogs, newspapers, reports, presentation slides, photos, diagrams and graphs, video and sound recordings, software, music and other works (for a complete list see the UK Intellectual Property Office website).

Using materials created by others

To include materials created by others (also known as ‘third-party copyright materials’) you normally need permission or a licence from the copyright owner. You might face legal action if you reproduce images, videos or text that are not yours.

When using someone else’s work, you have one of the following options:

  • Get permission from the copyright owner.
  • Use material published under an open licence (e.g. images under a Creative Commons licence, open educational resources, open access articles).
  • Use out-of-copyright material.
  • Rely on a copyright exception as defined in UK copyright law.
  • Create your own materials.

To avoid copyright infringement, particularly when using images, see advice on the UCL copyright website.

Getting permission

Unless a resource (e.g. an image or website) comes with a disclaimer or licence allowing you to reuse it, you need permission from the copyright owner. To avoid infringement:

  • Identify and contact the copyright owner. 
  • Be as specific as possible as to how you will use the material. Will it be included in a publicly available course? Available to a fee-paying audience? Will you use the material as is or do you plan to adapt it?
  • Mention that you will be acknowledging the source and ask how they would like to be acknowledged. Some artists, for example, ask you to link to their website.
  • If you receive no answer, please don’t consider this as permission. You may need to contact them again or find an alternative resource.
  • Please note that images found on Google may not have copyright information. This does not mean you can use them. Free to access does not mean free to reuse, unless there is specific information stating this.
  • You may be able to request permission to reuse content from journal articles and books via RightsLink. 

Permission often take time and may involve a cost. 

Using materials under Creative Commons (CC) licences

Creative Commons (CC) licences offer a simple way to flag copyright ownership and specify how others may reuse a resource. CC licences are used for open access articles and books, websites, images, videos and other materials.

You may use materials licensed with a Creative Commons licence as long as:

  • You attribute the author.
  • You respect the terms of the licence. Any use beyond what the licence allows requires permission.

CC licences are built around three criteria. 

  • A CC licence may or may not allow commercial reuse. If the licence bears the -NC (non-commercial) term, use is restricted to non-commercial uses only. The licence holder may consider that running a CPD or short course is a commercial activity. It is therefore worth checking before including -NC materials in your course.
  • A CC licence may or may not allow adaptations. If the licence bears the -ND (no-derivatives) term, you may only use the material as is bit not change it. Simply changing format i.e. digitising a print resource is not considered to be an adaptation.
  • Where adaptations are allowed by the licence, the term -SA (Share-alike) means that the licence requires you to share any adaptations under the same terms as the original.
  • The most permissive of the CC licences is the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence, which does allow both commercial uses and adaptations, as long as you reference the author.

The following resources may be useful:

General

Discover and cite CC-licensed materials

Using Open Educational Resources 

You can also use resources on sites that are specifically licensed for educational re-use, often using a CC licence. These are known as Open Educational Resources (OER) projects, and include the:

Remember to check and abide by the specific CC licence terms.

Using recordings of lectures given at UCL

Usually you can use recorded lectures or other presentations given at UCL if the lecturer is a UCL employee – for example, Lecturecast recordings. However, think about recording quality and whether there might be a better learning experience for your learners.

When an external speaker presents or lectures at UCL you may only use their recording if they have given written permission for UCL (or to you directly) to record and reuse it. Please check with the department that invited the speaker and follow up with the speaker if necessary. You may need separate permission to use any third-party material included in the presentation.

Can I link to a YouTube video?

In general you can link to a YouTube video, but you are strongly advised to check the source. It is quite common for people to upload material for which they do not own the copyright or have permission to reuse. Here are some tips:

  • Consider whether the person/company who uploaded the video is likely to be the copyright owner and get advice from copyright@ucl.ac.uk if in doubt.
  • Videos uploaded without permission may be of low quality and have accessibility issues. It is also possible they will be taken down at short notice if copyright infringement is detected. 
  • Consider educational videos from https://www.youtube.com/EDU and https://www.youtube.com/teded.

Using materials where copyright has expired or has been waived

‘Public domain’ materials are materials where copyright has expired, or where the copyright owner has waived rights to the work. Public domain works are usually marked with a public domain/no restrictions symbol (e.g. the CC0 waiver).

In the UK, copyright for literary and artistic works (books, articles, images) expires 70 years after the death of the author or artist. Where copyright has expired, you can reuse the work without permission. It is still good practice to attribute the author. 

Copyright duration varies across countries. For some older works, duration rules may also be different, resulting in some works being in copyright until the end of 2039. If you plan to use older materials, please contact copyright@ucl.ac.uk for advice. 

Using material without permission under a copyright exception

UK copyright law allows you to use reasonable amounts of text sources as well as images and other materials for specific purposes, as long as the use is ‘fair dealing’. This comes with a degree of risk, which increases if your course is publicly available and where whole images are involved.

The exception you could rely on in such cases is the ‘quotation’ exception. For more information on exceptions and ‘fair dealing’ please see advice from the Intellectual Property office. The UCL copyright support service can also advise on specific cases.

Using your own work

If you are a member of staff at UCL, rights to scholarly materials (including research publications and teaching materials) you produce in the course of your employment are waived in your favour, i.e. the general position is that you own them. You may therefore reuse them in other works. For more information on this see the UCL IP policy.

Please note that, if you have authored a journal article or book chapter, you may have signed an agreement with the publisher in which you have signed away your rights. It is worth checking what rights, if any, you have retained before reusing your own work. Permission from the publisher may be necessary.

Creating your own images to promote your course

You can easily create images for social media, your website or banner ads using a free website called CANVA. Please check the site’s terms and conditions of reuse.

Make sure your image can be used independently from your written tweet or post, for example:

  • using UCL branding so people know who you are.
  • including basic information about your course.

You can also use images from the UCL Image Store or openly licensed images (see relevant section).

Further copyright support

  • Complete an introductory 20-minute tutorial at your own pace, online. An opportunity to learn – or revisit – the basics, including works covered by copyright, permissions, ‘fair dealing’ and licences.
  • Join us for a training session, online or face-to-face. Current sessions focus on copyright for teaching, open licences and publishing contracts.
  • Visit the UCL copyright website for guidance on various copyright-related topics. 
  • This micro-CPD on UCL Arena offers some tips on encouraging good practice among your students.
  • If you have a specific question, please email copyright@ucl.ac.uk.
  • You can also book an appointment (online or face-to-face) via the copyright booking service.
  • Subscribe to the UCL copyright blog for updates and topical discussions.