Copyright is one of a group of rights covering intellectual property. These rules ensure that a creator receives acknowledgement for their work and that it is not reused without their permission. It is important for anyone working and studying at a university to understand what copyright is and how it impacts both what they are allowed to use in their work and how they share it with others. The University of Cambridge intellectual property policy states that the copyright of materials remains with the researcher (unless there are circumstances such as commercial sponsorship). This means that researchers, staff and students at Cambridge have extra freedoms around what they can do with their work but also extra responsibilities. This guide will introduce the essentials of copyright in the UK, outline what you can use in your work and how you can safely share your research.
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This guide is intended for information only and does not constitute legal advice. The University of Cambridge Legal Services Division oversees local copyright policy and is able to offer legal support and advice.
Copyright is automatically granted when something original is produced in one of the fixed forms listed in the graphic. Although you do not have to register anything and no fees are involved in order to claim copyright in your creation it must be tangible - copyright does not protect ideas. The work also needs to be sufficiently original to qualify for copyright protection, for example you cannot redraw an existing graphic and then claim ownership.
Copyright can be divided into two main areas:
Economic rights are the rights to make money from the work through publication, copying and lending. These rights can be sold or given away by the original creator of the work, for example when signing a publication agreement.
Moral rights protect the reputation of the creator. They include the right to be identified as the creator of a work and the right to object to derogatory treatment because of the work. Moral rights are always retained by the creator, even if they sell or give away their economic rights to the work.
Any one item has multiple layers of copyright within it. A book will hold copyright in the text, any images and even the typography whereas a DVD will have rights in the film content, its soundtrack and its cover art. Each of these layers of rights will have a different time period when copyright is active. This is the time before copyright protection lapses and the work enters the public domain and is available for all to use. Finally, each of these layers may belong to the same or a range of different rights holders - a publisher may own the rights to the text but not the cover illustration of a book. It is important to be aware of these layers as they may impact which elements of a work you are able to use and how you go about seeking permission.
Part of the educational experience involves using and building upon the work of others to create new knowledge. This content is often known as third party materials - materials created by someone else and/or to which others own the copyright. This can be a range of materials including extracts of text, figures, music, video, audio and images. Researchers and academics are allowed to use limited amounts of this third party material in their work through exceptions to copyright for illustration for instruction and non-commercial research and private study. These exceptions can only be used within a formal education environment such as a university. When using the work of others in your own it is important to correctly cite the original source. This helps to uphold academic integrity and avoid accusations of plagiarism. You can find out more about using the work of others in your own work on the Copyright for Researchers LibGuide.
If you need to seek permission to use copyright materials you should start by establishing the identity of the copyright holder. In many cases this will be either the original creator or a publisher. Check the material for any statements which give this information e.g. © The author. Publishers often have a Rights and Permissions section on their website which can also be useful. If you want to use material from a website try contacting the webmaster. You need to obtain informed open consent to use materials. This means that you need to make clear exactly how the work will be used and how you plan to make your work available. For example it is not enough to say that you wish to use material in your theses, you need to make clear that this thesis will be available online.
When approaching rights holders you should include:
A template permission letter can be found on the Wiley website [PDF]. If the copyright holder is a publisher or academic journal you may want to use the Copyright Clearance Centre tool to request permission. If permission is granted you should acknowledge this in your work e.g. "Permission to reproduce this [details of content] has been granted by [rights holder information] ". You should always keep a copy of any correspondence about permissions in case you need to refer back to it.
Copyright is also an important consideration when it is time for you to share your own work with a wider audience. Since 2017 there has been a requirement for PhD students to deposit an open access copy of their thesis in Apollo, the Cambridge institutional repository. When a thesis is shared online in this way it counts as publication and educational exceptions no longer apply. This means that you need to seek permission for any third party content or redact it from your thesis. It is much easier to do this if you plan for this as you write your thesis. You can find out more about how to deal with copyright in your thesis on the thesis management section of the Open Access website.
You may also wish to pursue formal publication of your research. Publishers will expect you to have obtained permission to use any third party materials that you wish to include. When publishing your work there are many routes to take. Journals will often ask you to sign an agreement or contract when they publish your work and it is important to read this carefully to look for any copyright implications. Check which rights you are retaining, which you are giving away and whether this fits with any funder mandates around open access. From April 2023 the University of Cambridge has operated a self-archiving policy for peer-reviewed research articles, reviews and conference papers. This encourages researchers to add a rights retention statement to their work so that they maintain copyright over the submitted version of their manuscript which can then be shared in Apollo. You can read more about this policy on the self-archiving website.
Sharing your research outputs on social media is a great way to gather attention but you need to ensure you are not in breach of copyright. Websites such as ResearchGate and Academia.edu encourage researchers to share copies of their outputs but you need to carefully check any publication agreements to determine what you are allowed to share. Publishers are within their rights to issue a takedown notice if they find copies of materials they own the rights to on these or other sites without permission. The safest option with these sites is to share a link to an open access or publisher version of the output rather than uploading anything directly. Find out more in our Moore About: Academic Social Networks guide.
Open licences are a key part of the move towards open research. This approach advocates that the results of research should be shared as transparently as possible to open up knowledge and encourage others to build upon it to create new work. Attaching an open licence to a work allows the copyright holder to specify what they will allow others to do with their materials and means that those seeking to use it already have the necessary permissions in place.
There are a range of different schemes available but the most recognised is Creative Commons. Founded in 2001, Creative Commons allows creators to use a simple formula to build a bespoke licence for their material. Each of the six core licences is made up of a combination of the four elements which allow creators to be specific about their conditions:
You can explore more about Creative Commons licences and how you can use them to use and share work in this video from Creative Commons Kiwi.
Test your Creative Commons knowledge with our interactive quiz and obtain a certificate of completion to show your learning. Select the 'Take a Quiz' button to get started.
Copyright can be a complex area to navigate but there are lots of sources of help available to you at Cambridge. The important thing to remember is that the earlier you ask for help and start planning, the easier it will be to avoid problems.