Copyright compliance seminar : fair dealing and use of creative commons licenses in education and research

Abstract

The Department of Library Services (DLS) at the University of Pretoria hosted a seminar on copyright compliance. The DLS is hosting this webinar as it has identified potential misuse such as posting learning material like PDFs without permission. Other cases include producing and distributing course packs to students without obtaining permission from the DLS’s Copyright Officer, and this is a direct copyright infringement.

This seminar was facilitated by the Scholarly Communications and Copyright Consultant together with the Dramatic, Artistic, and Literary Rights Organisation (DALRO), the national and multi-purpose copyright organisation. Fair dealing and use of Creative Commons licenses offer an extraordinarily important opportunity for faculties to make reasonable and limited uses of copyrighted materials. Clipping, cutting, pasting, uploading, posting, photocopying, scanning, and many other activities that are common at the university may be copyright infringements or maybe within fair use. When do you need to think about fair use?

What can be Copyrighted?

The following are some examples of works that may be copyrighted:

- Literary works including books, poems, theses, publications, handbooks, and manuals - Motion pictures, TV series, and dramatic works, including any accompanying music - Pantomimes and choreographic works - Computer software and animations - Computer software - graphical user interfaces - Songs, song lyrics, sound recordings, and music - Photographs, graphics, and images - Webpages - Works of art including paintings, sculptures, architecture, and computer graphics - Educational material including texts and tests - Program signals - Broadcasts (radio, television, etc.) Other matters which will be discussed include:

- Fundamental principles of general and information ethics or codes of conduct - Benefits of an institutional IP policy in addressing copyright infringement in faculties - Author copyright - Copyright Transfer Agreements - Creative Commons Licenses - Consequences and penalties for copyright infringement - The dos and don’ts of copyrighted work - The best practices to avoid copyright infringement