Copyright is a hot topic in the heady world of lecture capture.  It’s also Thing 11 in our online course 23 Things for Digital Knowledge

We are lucky to be able to learn from best practice at other institutions.  The excellent Jane Secker  ( UK Copyright Literacy) has been doing some research to find out what the issues are. She has surveyed UK HE institutions.

https://ukcopyrightliteracy.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/lecture-recording-survey-secker.pdf

The position regarding copyright ownership is enshrined in statute – the Copyright Designs and Patent Act 1988.  Section 11(2) provides that copyright created in the course of an individual’s employment vests in the employer.  Often this statutory right is backed up with provision in a contract of employment but our University of Edinburgh standard contracts are not explicit in this regard. As a result academic colleagues can sometimes be a bit surprised by this.

I expect we will need to support our colleagues with advice something like this ( adpated from Birkbeck)

Can I use copyright material in my lectures?

You may sometimes wish to use copyright work (e.g. an image, video clip or piece of text) belonging to another person or organisation in the course of your teaching.  The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (1988) currently states that copying for educational purposes is permitted, so long as it is not undertaken by a mechanical process. This essentially means you cannot scan, photocopy, or record (using lecture capture) copyright works without explicit permission from the owner.

In terms of lecture recordings, your options are as follows:

• Pause the recorder
• Edit the recording later
• Provide links to the relevant material instead
• Use Open Educational Resources (OER)
• Just record audio

Are there exceptions that would allow copyright works to be used?

Showing a video, such as a clip from a film and playing music is permitted under the law, so long as it is solely for the purposes of education and the lecture is not recorded.

Similarly, you can use small amounts of copyright material for the purposes of ‘criticism and review.’ Clearly, good practice requires acknowledging your sources, and stating where it is being used for criticism and review. In this case the work can be included in a recorded lecture.

What am I allowed to include in a recorded lecture?

The Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) Higher Education Licence allows small amounts of published copyright works (books and journals) to be copied for teaching purposes. This includes illustrations and images within the works.

In addition, if material that you find online is licensed under Creative Commons (CC) – a less restrictive form of copyright – then you will be able to show this material in a lecture that is being recorded. Again, the source should be acknowledged.

What about material from YouTube?

The copyright in material that you might show from sites such as YouTube lies with the creator of the video, so you would need to obtain permission directly from them (YouTube cannot grant this on their behalf). Some of these materials may be available for educational use or under a CC licence. Although it is permissible to show these recordings for educational purposes, and to provide links to the material, you should exclude this content from a recorded lecture. This can be done by pausing the recording whilst the clip is being played.

Streamed services such as the BBC iplayer or Box of Broadcast National (aka BoB National) may also be used in class but again are not to be included in recorded lectures.

What about using images in my teaching?

Although easy to download, online images are frequently subject to some sort of copyright, and unless you own the copyright yourself, it is usually NOT legal or acceptable to download them and use them in your recorded lectures.

There are several ways that you can legally use images in your recorded lectures:

• Use images where their copyright has expired
• Many sites e.g. Flickr, allow you to use images under a Creative Commons (CC) licence – all CC licences mean the copyright owner must be attributed.
• There are an increasing number of Open Educational Resources that allow the use of images in this way.
• Contact your Subject Librarian – they will be able to sign post CC subject specific image sources
• Create your own
• Obtain permission to use them from the copyright holder

What about other cases when you can show material you don’t own in lectures?

There are several other instances when you can use copyright material, including:

• When the copyright period in the material has expired
• When University of Edinburgh owns the copyright of the material e.g.  publicity material, other learning and teaching resources produced by the University.
• When you have specific copyright clearance ( under licence via the Library) to use the materials in this way.

What are the risks associated with using copyright material?

You are responsible for making sure that your recorded lectures do not infringe copyright. University of Edinburgh, however, is at risk of prosecution for infringing copyright, either within recorded lectures, or by uploading materials to a VLE, public folders, or another website.

Although it may be legal to use these materials within a class, it does not necessarily make it legal to include them within a recorded lecture and/or upload these to  a VLE.