Let's get Copyright compliant.
This Library Guide contains information and advice on copyright, using copyrighted works and the copyright licences that UWS holds. It replaces any previous copyright guidance created by the Library in various formats, including the Copyright course on the VLE.
If the information held here does not answer the copyright-related questions that you have or if you would like more information about copyright, please contact the Library Copyright Service at Copyright@uws.ac.uk.
Copyright Guidance
The principal exceptions to copyright law in the UK, known as fair dealing. These are:
Private study exception - allows individual students to copy extracts from material for their own reference purposes:
- One article from any one issue of a journal.
- One chapter or up to 10% (whichever is greater) of a book.
- One poem or short story of up to 10 pages from an anthology.
Non-commercial research exception
- One legal case report allows individual researchers to copy extracts from material for their own reference purposes.
Quotation, criticism or review – allows students, researchers and staff to quote short extracts from copyrighted works in essays, reviews and journal articles.
- A single extract of no more than 400 words.
- A series of extracts of no more than a total of 800 words, with no single extract exceeding 300 words.
Creating accessible copies for disabled users – allows individuals to copy work in accessible formats (i.e. adapting work into braille or adding subtitles):
- Personal copies of entire documents may be provided for disabled learners as long as a copy of the document is owned by the institution, the author of the work is acknowledged and a statement is included that the copies are made under Section 31B of the CDPA.
[CDPA refers to Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988].
Brief guide to Creative Commons licenses
Which Creative Commons license suits your work? This brief guide will help you decide.
Glossary of Copyright Terms
Contains brief definitions of commonly used terms used in Copyright.
Help & Support
If the information held here does not answer the copyright-related questions that you have or if you would like more information about copyright, please contact the Library Copyright Service at Copyright@uws.ac.uk
Copyright and Images
Copyright protection also applies to images, photographs and graphics.
It is harder to apply exceptions due to the nature of these works - we usually want to use the whole work.
Always check the licence arrangements and select "use with attribution" or attribution free sites to minimise your risk of infringing copyright. For example,
- Pixabay Note: avoid images marked sponsored content.
- Google Images Once you have found an image, remember to select the 'Tools' menu and then select the conditions of use for your image from the drop down menu 'Usage rights' to check the licence details.
- Pexels is a useful source of images that are attribution free, check your chosen image for details.
- Unsplash
- Other free image sites include the Snappa blog which lists other places to look for images you can use for free.
Remember it is good practice to acknowledge your source, even when the image says attribution is not required in the images licence.
See the Welcome page for the background on Creative Commons and search for images to re-use.
Gateway to understanding creative commons licensing, and finding open educational resources
Copyright and music
If you are looking for film, music, or photography to include in your work or to share with others, then go to the Creative Commons - Use & Remix search and click on the Search the Commons box link to find more audio and video material that you can use under CC licencing.
Don't forget you must attribute your CC source to remain copyright compliant.
What are Creative Commons Licenses?
University of Guelph (2018) What are Creative Commons Licenses? Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srVPLrmlBJY (Accessed: 30 September 2022).
