Copyright and Licences
Copyright and software license rules are something that we need to consider when creating our own learning resources or showing online materials to others. Copyright rules are extremely complicated and vary depending on whether you are considering copying text, an image, an audio file or a video. The Joint Information Services Committee (JISC) funded the Strategic Content Alliance to produce an Intellectual Property Rules (IPR) toolkit to help publically funded organisations to understand IPR rules and to provide a series of tools to help you identify and obtain the relevant permissions you may need. Although the resource has been made specifically for publically funded organisations, the information contained within it is valuable to everyone.
To access the Intellectual Property Rights Toolkit select the link below which will open the web page in a new window.
The main resource is a web page, and your browser's zoom controls can be used to increase the size of the text and/or images. But there are lots of links from the web page to pdf files. Click on this link for information about pdf files and accessibility.
If you are using Web 2.0 materials then take a look at the Web2Rights JISC project website , which includes various diagnostic tools relating to Web 2.0 content.
JISC Legal (http://www.jisclegal.ac.uk) aims to provide information about legal issues such as copyright, data protection and accessibility law in a clear way, so that legal issues do not become a barrier. The site is aimed at those who use ICT in further and higher education, but there is a lot of useful information on the website that everyone can access. By clicking on the appropriate tab, you can browse the site to find information relating to your role, to particular legal areas or to a range of themes.
If in doubt, ask! If you are not sure whether or not you can use a particular piece of text, image, video or sound (including music), then do check. If the item is online, then instead of downloading it, you could simply provide a link to it.
