If you are publishing your research – or making it available online – and it includes material that is still in copyright which you did not create yourself, you must make sure that you either have the correct permissions or that you are able to clearly demonstrate that there is a relevant exception under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This includes making a copy of your PhD thesis available via Warwick Research Archive Portal (WRAP). You cannot rely on educational exceptions to copyright law if your work is being made public, we have more guidance on thesis submission available.
When using someone else's work:
If you are not sure whether the amount of text you are using is reasonable under fair dealing or not, consider how you would feel if it was your own work.
The International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers has produced some useful guidance on quotations and excerpts.
Although the exception for short quotation, criticism and review applies to all types of material, you are advised to seek permission of the copyright holder to use the following:
You may also need permission to include material you have already published elsewhere if you have assigned the copyright in that material to someone else, e.g. your publisher.
Incidental inclusion of copyrighted material, for example, a film poster appearing in the background of a video, does not need permission.
You do not need to clear the rights to Creative Commons-licensed materials, as long as you are using them in a way allowed by the licence.
Tip: If in doubt, it's always safer to ask for permission!
Begin as soon as possible The process can take time
Aim to request permission at least 4-6 weeks before you need to use the material
For larger projects or commercial use, allow even more time - up to several months
You should aim to have everything in place by the time your publication enters the production stage, as your publisher may want to charge you for removing uncleared content after this point.
Step 1:
Identify the copyright holder
Step 2:
If the material has been published, it is a good idea to start by contacting the publisher. Most will provide clear information on how to request permission. There may be an online form you can complete, but if not, you may find these example templates useful.
Be Aware:
It can take a long time to hear back from a rights holder, but you must be sure you have permission before using the materials. You should not go ahead and assume that the answer will be yes.
You should also be prepared to pay a fee, particularly if the rights holder is a commercial publisher.
Keep copies of all correspondence and make sure that you clearly indicate in your work that permission has been granted.
Note: If you are unable to identify the copyright holder (known as an Orphan Work)
Orphan Works: An Overview
An orphan work is any copyrighted work where the copyright owner is either unknown or cannot be located. This creates challenges for those wanting to use such works, whether for commercial or non-commercial purposes.
In the UK, since 2014, users can apply for a license to use orphan works through the Intellectual Property Office (IPO).
To obtain a license, you must:
1. Conduct a 'diligent search' to try to identify/locate the copyright owner
2. Apply to the IPO for a non-exclusive license
3. Pay a reasonable license fee (starting at £20 for one work, up to £80 for 30 works)
Licenses:
- Are valid for up to 7 years
- Only apply within the UK
- Require acknowledgment of the missing copyright owner
- For non-commercial use, the fee is typically 10 pence per work
For more information: Orphan Works - CopyrightUser
Include in your request:
Remember: No response doesn't mean permission. If you don't receive a reply, you don't have permission to use the work
UK copyright law allows limited use of copyrighted material without permission under "fair dealing" exceptions.
These include:
Research and Private Study:
Users can copy limited portions of works for non-commercial research or private study. This applies to literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, as well as sound recordings, films, and broadcasts. The copy must be for the user's own study and should not be shared. The amount copied should be limited to what's necessary for the research or study purpose.
Criticism, Review, and Reporting Current Events:
Fair dealing permits using copyrighted material when critiquing or reviewing a work, or for reporting current events. The use must be accompanied by sufficient acknowledgement of the source. For current events reporting, this exception doesn't apply to photographs. The amount used should be no more than necessary to make the point.
Teaching in Educational Institutions:
Educators can use copyrighted materials in teaching activities, both in physical classrooms and virtual learning environments. This includes incorporating excerpts in lecture slides, handouts, or online course materials. The use must be for instructional purposes only and should not replace the purchase of original materials where reasonably available.
Quotations:
Fair dealing allows the use of quotations from copyrighted works for purposes such as criticism or review, but also extends to other purposes. The quotation must be no longer than necessary, and the source must be properly acknowledged. The work being quoted must have been made available to the public.
Parody, Caricature, and Pastiche:
This exception permits fair dealing for the purpose of parody (imitation for comic effect), caricature (exaggerated portrayal, often for satire), or pastiche (imitation of a style). It allows creative reinterpretation of copyrighted works, but the use should not compete with the original work in the market.
Text and Data Mining:
Researchers can make copies of works for text and data mining for non-commercial research, provided they have lawful access to the original material. This allows for computational analysis of large bodies of text and data. The copies made should be deleted once the research is complete.
Making Works Available to Disabled Persons
UK copyright law includes provisions to ensure that disabled individuals can access copyrighted works. Here's what you need to know:
Personal Use Exemption:
Types of Adaptations:
Institutional Exemption:
Commercial Availability:
Limitations:
Contract Override:
Sharing Across Borders:
Remember, the key principles are ensuring access for disabled individuals while respecting the rights of copyright holders. Always check for updates to copyright law, as regulations in this area may evolve to better serve the needs of disabled persons.
| Type of third-party copyright material | Further details | Is permission required? |
|---|---|---|
| Short Quotations from Books | Short extracts of text from a single published non-fiction work with full citation may be reproduced without formal permission if not greater than 400 words in a single quotation OR up to a total of 800 words in a series of short quotations when none of which are longer than 300 words. | Only if the use is not considered 'fair dealing.' |
| Short quotations from journal articles, fiction, newspapers and magazines | Single text extracts of less than 100 words or up to 300 words in a series of short quotations with full citation may be reproduced without formal permission. | Only if the use is not considered 'fair dealing.' |
| Extracts from openly licenced materials/where copyright holder explicitly allows re-use without seeking permission. | This applies to all types of copyright works, for example, reproducing an extract from a literary, artistic, dramatic or musical work, sound recording or film released by its copyright owner(s) under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY Licence), or a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial Licence (CC BY-NC Licence) or the UK Government’s Open Government Licence, or on website or other platform terms that permit reproduction in your dissertation. | No permission is required. |
| Out-of-copyright material |
If copyright no longer subsists in a work, it is said to be in the ‘public domain’, and no permission is required to copy or use that work or quotations, extracts or excerpts from it, but the source must be acknowledged. Please note that ‘out-of-print’ works are not necessarily out-of-copyright. The National Archives provides copyright duration charts for UK literary, artistic, dramatic and musical works. The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) provides UK copyright duration information for sound recordings, films and the typographical arrangements of published literary, dramatic or musical work. |
No permission is required |
| Long quotations. | Quotations beyond the fair dealing limits set out in 'Short text quotations from books' and 'Short quotations from journal articles, fiction works, newspapers and magazines' require formal permission from the copyright owner. | Permission is required. |
| Figures, illustrations, charts, tables and maps. |
Most academic publishers insist that fair dealing provisions do not apply to illustrations or figures, since each illustration or figure is treated as a separate copyright item, and therefore any reproduction requires formal permission from the copyright owner of the item. Permission is needed if the re-use is:
Permission is not required to redraw a previously published figure entirely, i.e. creating a new and unique figure with new data, does not require permission. Any source data or factual information must be credited. If you are unsure whether you are adapting or redrawing entirely a new figure, you should exercise caution and seek permission. |
Permission is required. |
| Photographs |
The government’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has suggested that ‘fair dealing for the purpose of quotation’ may not necessarily apply to photographs, as any use may conflict with the copyright owner’s photographer’s normal exploitation of the work. Whilst ‘fair dealing for the purposes of criticism or review’ may apply, in light of the IPO caution, obtaining formal permission to reproduce another’s photograph in your dissertation is advised. If using your own photographs or videos, you need to obtain consent from individuals who feature in the photographs or videos and from location owners for your photography or filming of objects on location. If your photography or filming is of artwork located at museum or gallery, please refer to the Images of artwork/illustrations from museums or art galleries section. |
Permission is required |
| Images of artwork/illustrations from museums or art galleries. | Permission is required for reproduction of artwork (paintings, sculptures, etc.) from its source. Permission is required for both the artist’s copyright, which may be obtained from the artist, their agent or the Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS) representing some more prominent artists, and for the photographer’s copyright, usually dealt with by the source of the artwork image, e.g. museum or gallery | Permission is required. |
| Unpublished material. |
There are no statutory fair dealing exceptions for quoting from unpublished material, including others’ unpublished dissertations. This means that you may not use quotations from unpublished works, including for the fair dealing purpose of criticism or review, without the permission of the copyright owner. Please be aware that unpublished works often have longer terms of copyright than other materials, most in the UK to the end of the calendar year 2039. See Out-of-copyright material. |
Permission is required. |
| Sources found on the internet |
Clear all use or remove the material from the body of the thesis and provide a link instead. If you decide you need to keep the content imbedded in your thesis, you need to check who owns the copyright in the original work and obtain their permission. This is because nearly all material on the Internet and in social media is protected by copyright. You are urged to exercise caution when contemplating use of images or other material found online. Often images and other material are posted without the knowledge or permission of the copyright owner, yet ignorance of this offers no defence for unauthorised use of copyright material. Further, taking down offending material upon notice from copyright owners is almost always insufficient to forestall payment to the copyright owner of a licence fee for use of the content and a penalty fee for the unauthorised use or incurring legal action to do so. However, linking to material that is lawfully available on the Internet should not raise any copyright issues. Ensure that each link opens in a new window and that you acknowledge the source of the link. |
Permission is required. |
| Material written by you. |
Unless your material has been published under an open licence, your publisher may allow re-use after specific embargo periods. Should you not have your publishing agreement to hand, you will need to check with your publisher to confirm any terms that apply to use of the whole or extracts from the paper in your dissertation. Nevertheless, if your previously published material contained extracts from other sources, e.g. figures, illustrations, tables or charts, you may need to obtain permissions from the copyright owners to reproduce those items in your online dissertation. |
Permission is required (from your publisher) |
| Epigraphs, poems, song lyrics, music (including sheet and sound recordings), film/TV stills, video clips, audio clips, cartoons, software, advertisements and publicity material | Permission is required to re-use these types of materials. | Permission is required |