Copyright Policy and Procedure

 

 

Purpose

A Copyright Act grants a copyright owner exclusive rights in respect of copyright material, including the right to reproduce or copy, publish, perform, communicate or adapt the material.
The purpose of the A. M. Al-Refai Library policy is to ensure that the University adheres to requirements relating to the copying, communication or performance of copyright material; and that the Gulf University for Science & Technology (GUST) faculty, staff and students are in a position to make legitimate use of such copyright material to assist their study, research, or teaching activities.
 

Application & Compliance

This policy applies to all GUST community members including staff, students, faculty, alumni, and external users. It also applies to any person participating in authorized University business or activities (visitor, p/time staff, service provider or contractor).
All GUST community members are expected to comply with the Copyright policy, as the Library will bear no responsibility related to those who do not adhere to the terms mentioned in the policy.

 

Exceptions

This policy does not apply to GUST’s operation in overseas locations; copyright laws in the concerned overseas country would have to be adhered to.
 

Policy

TYPES OF COPYING MATERIAL
Copying material dealt within this policy:
• Copying images, diagrams, films, DVDs & CDs for research or study
• Copying from the internet for research or study
• Copying for presentations in seminars and class
• Use of extracts in essays and assignments. 

Copying images, diagrams, films, DVDs & CDs for research or study
The amount you can copy for research or study from diagrams, artworks, films, TV programs and CDs is not specified in the Copyright Act. You have to consider the following five factors and then decide if the copying you wish to do constitutes to fair practice.
Five factors to consider
• Purpose and character of the usage
• Nature of the material
• Possibility of obtaining the material commercially
• Effect of the usage upon the potential market for the material
• Amount copied in relation to the whole of the source material. 

Copying from the Internet for research or study
Material on the Internet is protected by copyright and is subject to copyright law. Therefore, before downloading or printing material, always check the terms of use section of the website. Usually, you will be able to download or print for personal use or research and study. If the terms of use are not specified, you can copy a reasonable portion, that is, one chapter or 10% of the pages. If the work is not paginated, you can copy 10% of the words in the document.

Under fair practice you usually can’t:
• Make additional copies of copyright material to share with friends or classmates.
• Upload copies of someone else’s work to blogs or websites, such as YouTube or MySpace: only the copyright owner has the right to do this.
• Post your assignments containing extracts from copyright works onto public websites, as this is considered to be a publication of the work: an exclusive right of the copyright owner.
• If you need to share information resources with other members of a seminar group or project team, try the following:
1. If the information is in electronic format, post the URL or citation on your blog, website or shared server; sharing the URL is not a copyright infringement.
2. If this is not possible, ask your lecturer or tutor to arrange for the material to be made available via the reserve shelf in the library.
3. Obtain permission from the copyright owners to use the material.

Copying for presentations in seminars & class
Including sections from copyright works in a presentation to a class or tutorial as part of your course work, for example, showing a section of a TV program or DVD, or using diagrams and photos from books or articles in a PowerPoint presentation would usually be covered under copying for "research or study" or "criticism and review". However, copying of material is restricted to these purposes.
You cannot upload the presentation onto a blog or website as that would mean that the copying you carried out would no longer be for research or study. Remember to acknowledge the sources of any material you use in your presentations.

Including extracts in essays and assignments
For writing essays and assignments, you would probably want to include extracts from publications such as quotations, diagrams, illustrations and maps. You may also want to include clips from movies and TV programs or short extracts from CDs and sound recordings.

You can do this, under the research or study exception in the Copyright Act, provided:
• You observe the limits on copying and carry out the checks outlined above.
• The use of the copied material is restricted to research or study.
• You don’t use the material for other purposes, such as publication or performance.
• You acknowledge the author and source of your excerpts. This is now a legal requirement under the moral rights clauses in the Copyright Act. Failure to acknowledge sources could leave you open to action under the Copyright Act and could also lead to allegations of plagiarism. For more information about plagiarism, visit the “all your own work” website.
• You limit the number of copies of your essay or assignment for assessment purposes you produce to two or three copies which is allowed under the research or study exception.  

Publishing Your Work

Before publishing your work or deciding to submit one of your assignments to a journal, you will need to consider the issue of obtaining permission for any copyright material that you quote in your work.

Generally, you don’t need to obtain permission if you paraphrase or summarize someone else’s work, unless you follow the structure of the original work closely. However, you will still need to acknowledge the source of the work.

If your work is to be published by an international publisher:
• The copyright legislation in the country of publication will determine the permission you have to obtain.
• Some UK and US publishers allow you to quote a minimum number of words from a publication (often between 400-500 words) before they require you to obtain permission.
• Most publishers require you to obtain permission to use photographs, images, diagrams or charts from copyright works.
• Be guided by your publisher – visit their website or ask your editor for advice.
• Obtaining permission or clearances to use material in publications is time consuming, so it’s worth noting these few points now, as they will save you time later.
• Keep accurate citations – you’ll then be ready to go when you need to contact publishers.
• Remember, you don’t need permission to use out of copyright works. If you have a choice, use works which are out of copyright.
• Look for works where the copyright owner has given a license for non-commercial use, such as items published under a Creative Commons license.
• Check the terms of use for websites, as the owners may give you a license to re-use material for non-commercial purposes.

If you are making your work available on an internal University website, or online learning system, (such as Moodle or BlackBoard) you will be asked to complete a student consent form.

A. M. Al-Refai Library Subscription to Copyright Clearance Center (CCC)

The Library has subscribed to the ACADEMIC PERMISSION SERVICE (APS) at Copyright Clearance Center. APS provides authorization to photocopy material for use in coursepacks or as handouts for academic courses. (CCC processing charge of $3.00 is applied to each granted request). Thus, the Library obtains permission from the CCC to photocopy or republish copyrighted works.
 

Reserve Policy 

In addition to the subscription to CCC, the Library also maintains its internal Reserve Policy for all items placed on reserve and photocopied.
 

Procedures for Obtaining Permission to Copy

A filled-in Copyright Clearance Application Form should be sent to the Library. Provide complete and accurate information regarding the work to be copied or duplicated such as:
• Title, author and/or editor; copyright or publication date and edition of the book in which the materials to be duplicated appear.
• Exact material to be used, giving amounts, page numbers, chapters and, if possible, a photocopy of the material and title and copyright page.
• Number of copies to be made.
• Use to be made of duplicated materials and form of distribution (e.g., as course material and whether collected with other excerpts or materials, whether bound or unbound).
• Whether or not the material is to be sold.
• Type of reprint (ditto, photocopy, offset, typeset).
The processing of your request will be facilitated if you:
• Request all permissions for a specific project at the same time.
• Allow enough lead time to obtain the necessary permission before the materials are needed.
• Don't ask for blanket permission, since it cannot, in most cases, be granted.

Disclaimer

The content of this policy is not intended to constitute, and receipt of it does not constitute, a contract for legal advice or establishment of a legal relationship. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the information in this communication is accurate, A. M. Al-Refai Library does not accept responsibility for any action or inaction, legal or otherwise, based on the information contained in this document.