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Copyright considerations for Learning and Teaching
Copyright considerations for Learning and Teaching

Copyright considerations for Learning and Teaching

Published on: 29/09/2023 · Last updated on: 02/09/2024

What is copyright?

Copyright is one of the main types of intellectual property. It allows the copyright owner to protect against others copying or reproducing their work. Intellectual property gives a person ownership over the things they create, the same way as something physical can be owned.

What are Educational Exceptions?

The most important exceptions for education permit the use of any type of work for the purpose of teaching (or as the law puts it: ‘for the sole purpose of illustration for instruction’).

Copying must be used to illustrate a point about the subject being taught.
You can not copy for entertainment or for an unrelated reason to what is being taught.
Exceptions only apply under the following conditions:
1) The purpose of the use is non-commercial.
2) Where practical, there should be sufficient acknowledgment of authorship of the work.
3) The use of the material is fair.
The use of the material must be reasonable and proportionate e.g. sharing a short excerpt of documentary to illustrate a point, rather than sharing copies of the entire documentary.

Any taught session available to non-students of the University.	Scenarios where educational exceptions don’t apply
Items uploaded to Moodle or captured by Panopto that will only be available to students on your, or related course of study.	Anything that is not teaching, such as a public talk.
Teaching sessions where only registered students are in attendance.	Any taught session available to non-students of the University.

Top tips

Reference and attribute the material used where reasonably possible.
Only include material protected by copyright when it will only be accessible to registered students of the University.
Do not include (unless under license or with permission) any copyright-protected material in work that will be accessible to non-registered students of the University.

Frequently asked questions

If your lecture is being recorded and you include video made by someone else, this must be carefully considered as you will be making digital copies and making them accessible to your students. If you are not 100% sure that your use will fall under an educational exception to copyright it is strongly advised you either pause recording at that point of the lecture or edit out any third party material you have included.

When editing a video clip out, if it was sourced from somewhere like YouTube you can embed the video into the recording directly, which avoids any potential issues with copyright. It is vital that you ensure you have permission to capture any lecture that you wish to have recorded.

If your lecture is a standard SAMIS timetabled session consisting of only staff and students permission will have already have been contractually obtained. If anyone attending the lecture is not staff or student, you will need to obtain their consent should they be included in the recording.

Unless the material was specifically created for re-use at the time of recording, e.g. the performer(s) have agreed in advance that the material is for re-use, then unfortunately not. The re-use of another individual’s previously recorded material in part or in full would require exceptional circumstances. If you believe your requirement to be exceptional or have any queries around copyright and intellectual property rights, please email the University’s Copyright Advisor.

No, so long as the recording is hosted on the Panopto platform and only accessible behind the University of Bath single-sign on, to students on the relevant, or a related course of study then it may be considered a digital extension of the classroom. Therefore, there should be no need to remove such content as it will likely qualify under the educational exceptions to copyright so long as so long as it sufficiently attributed ,the amount used is reasonable and proportionate, being used for illustration and instruction, for the purpose of teaching.

Ideally, it is best to link to, or embed any content such as YouTube videos. However, so long as the material is only accessible behind the University of Bath single-sign on, to students on the relevant, or a related course of study then educational exceptions should still apply. Therefore, it should be permissible to include such content as it will likely qualify under the educational exceptions to copyright so long as it sufficiently attributed, the use is reasonable and proportionate, being used for illustration and instruction, for the purpose of teaching.

In the majority of use case scenarios, without prior consent of the University, you should not publish lectures on YouTube. There are many reasons why YouTube and any other public online video publishing platforms is not an appropriate vehicle for distributing learning material.

Educational exceptions to Copyright will not apply

Video content would potentially be available to individuals who are not registered students of the University. This means that any Educational Exceptions to copyright would no longer be applicable. Inclusion of any protected material would make yourself and the University at risk of legal action from the relevant rights holders.

If the video features any individuals other than yourself you need to obtain their written consent. This includes any individual who can be seen or heard such as students who may be featured in the audience.

The video may include your or someone else’s personal information subject to data protection requirements. Failure to protect personal data may result in legal proceedings against yourself and the University.

Contractual Obligations

Material created through your course of employment by the University may be owned in part by the University. In much the same way that it is not generally permitted to publish lectures from Panopto externally, it may be a requirement of the University to ensure consistency of quality, version control and protection of its rights in the media/recorded learning content output by its representatives.

Yes. Ideally, it is best to link to, or embed any such content. However, so long as the material is only accessible behind the University of Bath single-sign on, to students on the relevant, or a related course of study then educational exceptions should still apply. Therefore, it should be permissible to include such content, as it will likely qualify under the educational exceptions to copyright so long as it sufficiently attributed, the use is reasonable and proportionate, being used for illustration and instruction, for the purpose of teaching.

Box of Broadcasts (BOB) students and staff can access a wealth of television and radio programmes to help with work or study.

View a quick guide to Box of Broadcasts

So long as the material is hosted on Moodle or the Panopto platform and only accessible behind the University of Bath single-sign on,to students on the relevant, or a related course of study then it may be considered a digital extension of the classroom. Therefore, there should be no need to remove such content as it will likely qualify under the educational exceptions to copyright so long as it sufficiently attributed, the use is reasonable and proportionate, being used for illustration and instruction, for the purpose of teaching.

Many of the Microsoft products such as Word and PowerPoint provide the option to include creative commons images from their online image library which are already correctly attributed:

Choose insert > Online Pictures
Ensure that ‘Creative Commons only’ is ticked and enter a search term.
Select the image you wish to use. You will notice that the attribution has been automatically created for you.

Full guidance on this can be found in this document.

Many of the Microsoft products such as Word and PowerPoint provide the option to include creative commons images from their online image library which are already correctly attributed.

Choose insert > Online Pictures
Ensure that ‘Creative Commons only’ is ticked and enter a search term.
Select the image you wish to use. You will notice that the attribution has been automatically created for you.

Has it been repurposed and shared on the Internet a million times? Yes
Was it done so compliantly with copyright and IP legislation? No

For an individual sharing a meme there is a low risk of prosecution. However, say the University used that image on its home page, it is quite likely that legal action would be taken. There is an argument for exceptions such as parody, pastiche, etc but this could only be decided by judicial test in a court of law. It is worth noting that large corporate companies don’t use memes in their marketing material, ever, and for good reason. We would strongly advise against using any such images in a professional capacity.

If unsure about the use of media or issues related media and copyright you can seek advice from the Media Usage & Copyright Advisor Thomas Pace.

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