Doctoral Training Workshops
A Research Student’s Guide to Intellectual
Property Rights
18 February 2014
(Slides are on Doctoral Training Programme website)
Stephen Potter and Dario Colombo
Stephen.Potter
Dario.Colombo
Based on Ch 8 of Doing Postgraduate Research and materials from Richard
McCracken and the OU’s Rights Department
Steve
What are Intellectual Property
Rights?
Intellectual Property Rights
• An aspect of research ethics
• Need to respect the IPR of sources you use
• Need to know and protect your own IPR
– So, for example, not only do you need to fully reference your
sources, but make sure you have permission to use them (e.g.
citing the source of a photograph does not give you the right to
include it in your own publication)
• Think of Intellectual Property as any other form of property – if it
something that belongs to someone else, you need their
permission to use it (just like using their bike, house or garden)
Types of Intellectual Property
•
•
•
•
Patents for inventions
Trade marks for brand identity
Designs for product appearance (e.g. car design)
Copyright of materials
–
•
For details see the excellent Intellectual Property Office
website at: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/home.htm
Copyright aspects are of main concern to research
students (and maybe Patents in technical areas)
Protection under the 1988
Copyright Act
• Economic rights are designed to protect a copyright
holder from being disadvantaged financially.
• Moral rights are also protected under the Copyright Act.
• These include the right to be:
– identified as the author (or director) of a work
– the right to object to derogatory use of a work
– the right not to allow false attribution
The item needs to be a defined ‘work’ (not just an idea)
Works protected by Copyright
• Original Literary Works
• Including…. Articles, Chapters, Conference Papers, Books, Theses, Poetry,
Song Lyrics, Computer Programs etc.
• Original Musical Works
• Musical Notation of Songs, Symphonies, Film Scores etc.
• Original Dramatic Works
• Plays, Scripts, Screen Plays, Mime, Choreography
• Original Artistic Works
• Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, Jewellery, Graphics, Architectural Designs,
Buildings, Maps, Charts, Carvings, Photographs
• Performances
• Stage, Films, Sound Recordings, Broadcasts (of any form TV, Radio, Satellite,
Cable, Internet)
Duration of Copyright
• Original Literary, Dramatic, Musical &
Artistic Works - Life Of The Author/Owner Plus
• Broadcasts (including via internet)
• Sound Recordings
• Film
- Life of up to 4 Authors1 Plus
• Published Editions
• Performances
• Designs
70 YEARS
50 YEARS
50 YEARS
70 YEARS
25 YEARS
50 YEARS
15 YEARS
1Director, Author of the Screenplay, Author of the Dialogue and Composer of any Original
Soundtrack
Ownership of Copyright
• This is an automatic right upon the creation of a work
• The ‘default position’ is that copyright initially belongs to
whoever brought it into existence
• Under UK law no formality is needed to ‘register’ original
work (e.g. publishing or performance establishes
copyright)
• BUT copyright ownership can be part of terms and
conditions of employment or another contract that you
sign
Restricted and Permitted Acts
• Restricted Acts are what you cannot do with copyright
materials belonging to someone else without their
permission
• Permitted Acts are the exceptions which is what you
can do with copyright materials belonging to someone
else
Restricted Acts
• Copying
• Issuing Copies to the
Public
• Performing, Showing or
Playing to the Public
• Broadcasting
• Adapting
• Storing in any Electronic
Medium
• Rental and Lending
• Importing Infringing
Copies
• Dealing In Infringing
Copies
• Providing Means For
Making Infringing Copies
• Provision of Premises or
Apparatus for Infringing
Performances
• Authorising Infringement
Permitted Acts
• Insubstantial Use
• Non-commercial Research or
Private Study
• Fair Dealing for the Purposes
of Criticism or Review
• Fair Dealing for the Purposes
of Reporting Current Events
• Bona Fide Examinations
• Recording at Home For 'TimeShifting' Purposes

• Recording of Broadcasts by
Educational Establishments (for
access from premises owned by
the institution)
• Photocopying under CLA
Licence (which OU has)
• Instruction in the making of films
or soundtracks
• Redrawing - with Caution
Maps
• Ordinance Survey is very restrictive (though easing);
even if you pay to use their map they claim copyright on
your derived version!
• Use Open Street Map (a Creative Commons open
source wiki world mapping resource:
http://www.openstreetmap.org/
• This is editable and brilliant for research
purposes
Openstreetmap logo
Insubstantial Use
• Insubstantial use covers short quotations/excerpts. OU
guidance is that this covers:
– less than 400 words of continuous prose from a book;
– less than 800 words of broken prose from the same source
(broken text must be no more than 300 words);
– Less than 10% of a journal article;
– Less than 10% of a table;
– Less than 3 lines of poetry.
Fair Dealing
• Only permitted for non-commercial research and private
study when using literary, dramatic, musical and artistic
work.
• You can make single copies or take short extracts of
works when the use is for non-commercial research or
for private study, for educational courses - or even for
use in connection with a hobby
• Quotes for the purpose of review or criticism (e.g. in a
Literature Review or to justify a research method).
• This group covers most academic uses you are likely to
face
• Sufficient acknowledgment is a legal requirement
Bona Fide Examinations
• Works submitted for examination purposes only
• Technically this applies to all of a thesis or dissertation
• But will restrict what you can do with the thesis or
dissertation (cannot circulate it for non-examination
purposes, put on website (such as ORO) or make copies
for any purpose other than examination)
• In practice it is best not to rely on this exception
Factual Information and
Reworking
• There is no copyright in factual information or ideas
only the way they are presented
• Information may be taken from charts, tables and
illustrations and presented in a different way. For
example information from a pie chart represented as a
bar graph would not require copyright clearance
(although the source of information must always be
quoted)
• Can be possible (but be careful) for maps
Web Materials
• Same copyright rules apply unless otherwise stated
• But be careful that the original website is not in
contravention of copyright – if it says ‘open access’ or
that downloads are ‘copyright free’ and they are actually
another person’s copyright material you are still breaking
the law!
• A useful guide on copyright in the digital environment is
at: http://www.caret.cam.ac.uk/copyright/index.html
• If you are creating your own web page start from
scratch. Taking and adapting someone else’s web
pages is a clear breach of copyright law.
Open Government Licence (OGL)
• The OGL is a free licence to enable use of government
information and public sector information without the need
for formal agreements or any registration transaction
• Allows you to copy, publish, distribute and transmit the
information; adapt the information; exploit the information
commercially
• Does not apply to third party materials reproduced in
government and public sector documents.
• Source must be acknowledged and not used in a
misleading way – see terms and conditions for re-use at:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-governmentlicence/
Open Source
• Some materials are provided on an ‘Open Source’ basis
• The copyright owner permits you to use their mateirals
under a set of specific rules
• Check conditions – e.g. you need to sign up to a licence
to share what you do with the material with others via a
website
• This is often used by collaborative
web communities
• (for example http://www.40fires.org/
use open source to develop
energy-efficient technologies)
Creative Commons
• Creative Commons is an organisation that provides a
legal structure for Open Source working
• Their licenses allow creators to specify which rights they
reserve, and which rights they waive. For details see:
http://creativecommons.org/
– Wikepedia is one of the notable web-based projects using a
Creative Commons license
– Openstreetmap is another
• Usually for non-commercial uses
• Licence requires you to acknowledge source and to
share what you do
• See Wikepedia entry on Creative Commons
Can I Use It?
No
Is it a Work?
Yes
No
Is it Protected?
Use It
Yes
Am I Performing A
Restricted Act?
No
Yes
Do I have a defence to
allow free use?
Yes
Clear It
No
Activity
• In groups discuss one or two pieces of written work (e.g.
an article, diagram, map, conference paper) that you
have drawn on for your own research
• Work through the copyright clearance tree and identify
how you have been able to use this without clearance or
if you think clearance might have been needed
Getting permission to use
• Contact copyright owner for permission
• Get documented proof that permission has been granted
(and any conditions applying)
• Restricted uses may obtain permission more easily or
cheaply (e.g. for research publication purposes only)
• OU Rights Department can advise and help with
obtaining permission
– (see http://intranet.open.ac.uk/lts/key-information/businessplanning/rights.shtml
Dario
Protecting your Copyright Cake
• Copyright can be sliced up in a lot of
ways – and then each bit sold off
separately
• The ‘Joanne Rowling’ strategy
(cf Estate of AA Milne)
Source bbc.co.uk
Copyright
The Rights Slice
The World
U.K.
The Territory/Media Slice
Like physical property, use of rights can be
sold indifferent ways
Print
TV
Film
Theatre
Merchandising
Electronic & Digital
Media
Rest of the World
For example if you own a house you a can
sell the whole thing, or rent out rooms, or
rent the whole house, or use it to raise capital – likewise you
can split your rights on a work
Territorial Layers of Exploitation
UK
Hardback
Paperback
Broadcast
Narrowcast
Video: On Demand /In Home
Viewing/ Rental/ Non-Theatric
Computer -Based Systems
License to publish
• Many journals ask you to assign all
copyright to them
• You may be able to arrange with a
publisher a particular set of rights
under a License to Publish
• Some journals, while still asking for
full copyright, now include a list of
additional permitted uses
• Think ahead about what you will use
the work for in future
Depositing
publications on ORO
• Unless permission is granted, you cannot upload the
publisher-produced PDF of most articles. The majority of
journal publishers retain copyright of the publisherproduced PDF through the copyright transfer agreement.
• However most publishers (around 91%) have now
updated their copyright policies to allow the final draft
version of paper to be held on open access repositories.
• The SHERPA/ROMEO site
(http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/ ) provides an updated
and easily accessible list of publishers’ copyright policies.
• Check with ORO Team for help (Email: lib-oro-team)
The Authors’ Licensing and
Collecting Society (ALCS)
• Once you start publishing it is worthwhile registering with
ALCS
• ALCS represents the interests of UK writers and aims to
ensure writers are fairly compensated for any works that
are copied, broadcast or recorded.
• In 2007-08 ALCS paid out a total of £18.6 million to over
46,000 writers.
• For details see: http://www.alcs.co.uk/
– There are other collecting societies – see Intellectual Property Office
website for details
Patents
• Patents are about protecting
commercial rights
• A Patent gives an inventor
a right for a limited period
(up to 20 years in the UK)
to stop others from using
Source bbc.co.uk
the invention without permission
• Patents are about functional and technical aspects
Patents registration
• Unlike Copyright there is a formal registration process
• But there needs to be non-disclosure before registration
– if an invention is released onto the market or explained
in a publication before an application is filed it will not be
permitted
• Even a conference presentation could make a patent
application invalid
• See UK Government Intellectual Property Office
website for details at http://www.ipo.gov.uk/
OU Postgraduate Research Student
Policy on Intellectual Property (IP)
• OU policy and procedures on student IP is at:
http://intranet-aps.open.ac.uk/intranetaps/m2005_11_8_53592/s2005_11_8_53644/pics/d1024
19.pdf
• The assignment of IPR to the University is to allow the OU
to protect you;
• Is part of treating our PG students the same as staff;
• Postgraduate research students hold the copyright to the
text in their thesis and to research articles;
• If you think your research will produce something that
could be patented, discuss this with your supervisors;
Further Support
• OU Rights Department Website is:
http://intranet.open.ac.uk/lts/key-information/businessplanning/rights.shtml
• Tel Extension 53511
• (WARNING – almost impossible to find by searching
intranet!)