US website which provides guidance on potential costs for reusing copyright materials
Sample permission letter for using copyright materials
This handy PDF outlines some different methods of redacting content from theses
This resource is licenced under a CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence by Claire Sewell, the Office of Scholarly Communication, Cambridge University Libraries.
Third party copyright refers to materials which have been created by someone other than the person who want to use them. Researchers often use third party materials in their own work, for example diagrams, images or extracts of text. Some examples of third party materials can be seen in the graphic below:
Issues around third party copyright frequently come up when researchers are confused by exactly what they are allowed to use in their work and how they should do this. This issue is further complicated by the general confusion around copyright licenses and exceptions (which are discussed on the next page of the unit). In educational situations such as preparing assignments, teaching or a thesis for examination, researchers may be able to rely on an exception such as fair dealing. However this is not the case when work is published, including sharing a thesis or other print work online.
Another issue which causes confusion for researchers is that third party material may include work that they have authored but had formally published. When the work was published it is likely that the researcher signed some type of publication agreement and this may mean that the copyright has been transferred to the publisher. If this is the case then the researcher has no choice but to treat the work as any other third party material and obtain permission to use it in further work or teaching. To use any third party copyright materials researchers will need to get permission from the copyright holder and reference it accordingly.
Obtaining permission to use third party material can be a complex and costly process in terms of both time and money. Depending on how many different people can claim copyright over elements of a work, researchers may need to clear several different rights. It is best for researchers to treat this as a core part of their project and start planning their strategy early. This includes the process of obtaining permission for materials as they move through their work rather than leaving everything to the last minute.
When applying for permission researchers should be clear about exactly what they intend to do with the material - a process known as obtaining informed, open consent. Specifically they should mention whether the material is going to be used only for educational purposes or whether it will be published more widely now/in the future. Some copyright holders may grant permission for something to be used for educational reasons but may have a different opinion about published works.
There are several steps researchers can take to obtain permission to use third party materials in their work:
If permission to use material is granted then this should be acknowledged within the work. As a minimum the name of the copyright holder and a statement thanking them for granting permission should be included but if the work is out of copyright (and therefore does not require permission) this should also be acknowledged.
