BLE Detailed Copyright Guide: Putting Material on the BLE: You Have Permission from the Copyright Owner
You can place a copy of a copyright-protected work on the BLE if you have permission from the person or organisation who owns the copyright. Bear in mind that:
- The copyright owner will not necessarily be the same as the author: e.g. the author of a book or article may have assigned copyright to the publisher (see You or SOAS owns the copyright);
- Copyright can be inherited, so if the original copyright owner is deceased, his/her legal heirs will own the copyright unless the work is out of copyright (see The material is out of copyright); and
- A work may have more than one copyright owner, in which case you will need permission from all of them.
Publications will usually include some form of statement indicating who owns the copyright, e.g. on the title pages. The international copyright symbol (©) is a standard way of declaring copyright ownership. If it is unclear who owns the copyright or how to contact the copyright owner, it is advisable to start by contacting the publisher. Permission needs to be explicit and should not be inferred from silence: it is not sufficient to write to the copyright owner stating that you will assume that they have granted permission if you do not hear from them within a certain period of time.
If the copyright owner grants permission to put the work on the BLE or to use the work in any other way, you should retain the written record of the permission for at least six years from the date when you ceased using the work in that way.
Sometimes copyright owners will allow their works to be used in certain ways without having to seek permission from the owner. This might be done through a licence (such as a Creative Commons licence) embedded in the work itself, or through a blanket statement or waiver, e.g. on the rights owner's website. Where this is the case, it may be possible to use material more extensively on the BLE than would be possible under the CLA licence. For example:
- The Open University plans to put an increasing amount of teaching material on its OpenLearn website. Material on OpenLearn is subject to Creative Commons licences which allow it to be freely copied and distributed (e.g. on the BLE), provided the source of the material is acknowledged.
- Crown Copyright has been waived in UK legislation, which means that Acts of Parliament, Acts of the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies and statutory instruments can be reproduced in their entirety on the BLE without infringement. Many other types of Crown Copyright publications can be reproduced without charge after applying for a free "click use" PSI licence via the website of the Office of Public Sector Information. Usage in both cases is subject to certain conditions: e.g. the item must be reproduced accurately, must be properly attributed, must not be used in a derogatory or misleading manner, and a copyright statement must be included. Further guidance on the use of legislation and the licencing of Crown Copyright material is available on the Office of Public Sector Information's website.
Last updated January 2008
