Copyright
Copyright protects your work and stops others from using it without your permission.
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Copyright covers:
- Original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work, including illustration and photography
- Original non-literary written work, such as software, web content and databases
- Sound and music recordings
- Film and television recordings
- Broadcasts
- The layout of published editions of written, dramatic and musical works
To be subject to copyright, a work must be:
- Original
- In a recorded or fixed format
Copyright is automatic – you don't need to apply for it, or put a © on your work.
Fair dealing
Apart from owning copyrighted works yourself, you may wish to make use of someone else's copyright-protected works. In some special cases, you can do this without asking for permission.
These exceptions only apply if the use of the work is a 'fair dealing', for example:
- Does using the work affect the market for the original work? If the work acts as a substitute, causing the owner to lose revenue, it is unlikely to be fair.
- Is the amount of the work taken reasonable and appropriate? Was it necessary to use the amount that was taken? Usually, only part of a work may be used.
Source: Intellectual Property Office. (2014). Guidance: Exceptions to Copyright. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/guidance/exceptions-to-copyright
About Creative Commons Licences
Creative Commons Licences allow works to be re-used under certain conditions. These rules help you understand how to use content in your research and protect your work from being misused.
When publishing research, it’s best to use the CC-BY licence. This allows more people to use and share your work, increasing its impact. Some funders have rules about which licence can be used.
For example, UKRI does not allow the CC BY-NC-ND licence because it limits research innovation.
The University of Salford requires all research theses must be added to the University of Salford’s Institutional Repository (USIR) via Worktribe with a Creative Commons licence.
For more information on depositing your thesis and selecting an appropriate licence, see our Theses page, or contact library-research@salford.ac.uk.
Copyright guidance
For students and researchers
During your studies or research, you will use many copyrighted items: books, journal articles, reports, images, broadcasts, data, and much more.
- The University has licenses that let you copy small portions of works (usually 1 chapter or article, or 10% of the whole work).
- Copyright law allows ‘fair dealing’ for study and research. This means you can use some material without asking for permission.
- The exception to this is the use of images in a PhD Thesis. You must get permission because the thesis will be online. Please see the Copyright for theses guide for help.
- To find out what you can legally use see the Intellectual Property Office's guide Exceptions to copyright: Research.
- Copyright for Researchers -This interactive tool helps you check if you can use certain materials for your research, and how to protect your own work.
Your responsibilities
Failure to sufficiently acknowledge your sources is considered plagiarism. Penalties include:
- Losing marks
- Failing the assessment or module
- Expulsion
The University allows you to use its resources for study, research, and teaching only. You must not share copies on file-sharing sites. If you do, you could face:
- University Discipline
- Expulsion
- Police action if it is a criminal offence
Further details can be found in the University's Acceptable Use Policy.
For teaching
You may wish to use copyrighted material in your teaching. For example, you may provide copies of articles or chapters as recommended reading for your students, use images in PowerPoint slides, or show video material in lectures or through Blackboard.
Often, this is allowed under Licensing schemes, exceptions for teaching in Copyright law, or Creative Commons material. Some common examples are:
- Reading List items - The CLA Higher Education Licence lets us copy parts of books and digital publications for students. To do this, you must report exactly what you have copied. Staff should follow the University's process. Please see the Digitisation page for information about this.
- Images in lecture slides and other teaching material - Copyright exceptions allow you to use copyrighted images if they are there specifically to illustrate a point. Try using images with Creative Commons licence; see Licenses List to find out more about these and what you can do with the works. Always credit the image source.
- Broadcasts - You can show recorded TV programmes in class, on Blackboard, or on reading lists using Box of Broadcasts (BoB).
For comprehensive advice about current copyright law, see Intellectual property: Copyright.
To help you understand whether you can use certain materials in your teaching, and how to do so without breaking copyright rules, see Exceptions to copyright: Education and teaching
If you have any questions please contact the Library.
Email: AskUs@salford.ac.uk
Tel: 0161 295 5535 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm)
Text: 01689 422053 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm)