For general information on copyright and its duration, please see Copyright Essentials.
Using works still in copyright
Several exceptions in copyright law allow you to use works still in copyright for research, such as Criticism, Review, Quotation, and text and data mining. For more details, see Copyright Essentials.
When creating PowerPoint presentations, use the Brand templates and the photographic images available in the Brand Portal.
Copyright ownership
The Code of Practice for Research (PDF - 382 KB) (section 6) and the Research Publications Policy (DOCX - 96 KB) outline copyright ownership for materials created by staff and students at the University. Generally, UOB staff own the rights to Scholarly Works produced during their research, unless a contractual agreement, such as a funding or collaboration agreement, states otherwise. This includes Research Publications like journal articles, conference papers, monographs, and book chapters.
While creators of Scholarly Works own the copyright, they automatically grant the University a licence to use those works for teaching, research, and other limited purposes. Authors of Research Publications must grant a 'suitable public licence' (typically a Creative Commons licence) for their works, as outlined in the Policy. This licence applies automatically to all Research Publications submitted for publication on or after 20/01/2025 by UOB staff, helping authors retain access and comply with Open Access funder requirements. See Rights retention: essential information.
Both the Code and the Policy have various requirement and details, including when the Policy and the licensing requirements do not apply.
Students
Student ownership of Intellectual Property (IP) is also detailed by the Code of Practice for Research (PDF - 382 KB). In short, the Code confirms that students will automatically own their own work unless they are working as staff members, the items were created jointly with staff members, they were funded by the University of Birmingham, or they were engaged in an activity which had IP ownership already assigned to a different party.
Students who create Research Publications are not automatically subject to the terms of that Research Publications Policy (DOCX - 96 KB), but they can opt in if they wish. Opting into the Policy ensures outputs are disseminated as widely and openly as possible to maximise their visibility and availability, potentially creating a greater impact.
Co-authors
Research publications may be the result of collaboration with researchers who are not employed by, or studying at, the University of Birmingham and copyright may be held jointly with external authors.
When creating Research Publications and Scholarly Works, staff and students should inform their co-authors as soon as possible. The Research Publications Policy (DOCX - 96 KB) has more information.
Publishing
As part of the publication process, you may be asked to assign/ transfer your copyright over to the publisher, or provide them with an exclusive licence for the work. Either of these two options could mean that you need permission from the publisher for any other use of the work you created.
It is important you read the terms of your publishing agreement closely to ensure you are aware of the rights you grant and how they impact on your use of the materials. Many publishers have information on their webpages about authors’ rights.
The Code of Practice for Research and the Research Publications Policy apply before and irrespective of any publication contract. This means that the licence applied to any Research Publication is in place before any publisher contract and cannot be overridden or replaced by those terms. The University has written to publishers to inform them of the licence asking that their contracts/ agreements do not conflict with author rights and obligations. More information can be found in our Rights retention FAQs.
Creative Commons
Creative Commons (CC) is a not-for-profit organisation who provide free and easy to understand licences. Their licences provide a simple, standardised way to give others the permission to share and use your creative works — on conditions of your choosing. Creative Commons licences are not an alternative to copyright. By default, copyright allows only limited reuses without your permission. Creative Commons licences let you license additional permissions to others, allowing reuse on the terms best suited to your needs while reserving some rights for yourself.
Many funders now make sharing outputs under a Creative Commons licence a requirement of their funding. Please see Open Access where you will find information about Open Access and funder requirements.
There are six different CC licence types available each detailing what can and cannot be done with the content. More information can be found via the CC website.
Use of third-party content in research outputs being released under a Creative Commons Licence
When adding a Creative Commons licence to your work, ensure you have permission for any third-party content (works created by others) included. If your use falls under a legal exception like criticism, review, and quotation, or you have permission, clearly state that third-party works are not covered by your CC licence unless you have gained permission for this type of use. For example, caption images with 'All rights reserved © [Name of copyright owner], [Year of creation]’. This makes it clear that an item is not included in the Creative Commons licence.
It is also good practice to alert a person finding your work that not everything within it will be covered by the licence. For example, where you place your Creative Commons licence also state ‘Except where otherwise stated, this work is available under X Creative Commons licence.’
If you have included items already under a Creative Commons licence in your work, then you need to give reference to that licence and credit to the creator at that point of use.
Publishers will also be able to provide authors with further guidance.
Obtaining copyright permissions when publishing
Your use of other people’s works may be covered under UK Law by fair dealing exceptions, but as fair dealing is a grey area many publishers do not like to rely upon this and instead will ask you to seek formal permission for including another person’s works (third party materials) in your publications.
First check if the items created by the third party are still in copyright– it can be surprising how long copyright can last for some items. If the item is no longer in copyright, then you are free to use it.
Before seeking formal permission it is worth checking to see if permission for using a third party work has already been granted via a Creative Commons licence or similar open licence.
If the work is still in copyright and not covered by a licence that permits your use or the publisher is not satisfied with this, then you will need to seek more formal permissions.
If the work you are copying from is a book or journal article then the Copyright Clearance Centre may have been given the rights to process and take payment to provide permission for your use. They have an online form that you can use to check the costs for permissions for a range of uses.
Many artists, or their estates, license their works for reuse via DACS. You can use these services to get quotes which can be included in funding bids.
For works not covered by the above you will need to locate the copyright holder and contact them directly for permission.
When contacting the copyright holder, it is normally helpful to include the following information:
- Full details of the publication that you wish to include their work in e.g., title, authors, book, chapter, or article.
- Clearly detail exactly which of their materials you are seeking permission to use.
- The format that you expect your work to be published in e.g., print, electronic or both.
- How the publication will be made available, e.g. geographic location of publication and distribution, or via an open access route that is freely available online to the world.
- If the publication is to be made available under a Creative Commons licence, provide full details.
- That you would like permission to be granted for this edition and any subsequent editions.
- That you would like the permission to cover any translated versions of your publication.
Contacts
For advice on copyright matters and University licences, please contact: copyright@contacts.bham.ac.uk