UK law permits teachers and students to makes copies of third party material for the purposes of "giving or receiving instruction". The UK Intellectual Property Office has published a guide to Exceptions to Copyright for Education and Teaching (2014).
Lectures (in person or recorded), student activities and assessments are covered by this legal exception. Course reading is treated differently in UK law.
You must have acquired the material legally (free or paid for), and your use must be fair dealing. Broadly speaking, this means all of the following criteria must be met:
 |
|
There's no legal definition of how much is 'reasonable'. Use your judgement about whether your use would impact on the rights-holder's market. For instance:
 |
|
Consider whether you can link to the material on the host platform instead of making a copy. Sharing a link is unlikely to breach copyright, providing you aren't knowingly promoting online piracy, or enabling students to get round a paywall.
Films are protected by copyright in the UK for 50 years after the last of these rights-holders dies: principal director, producer, screenplay author, composer of soundtrack. TV programmes are protected for 50 years from date of first broadcast.
UK copyright law (CDPA s 34) permits teachers and students to screen a film or TV programme "at an educational establishment" for an audience "directly connected with the activities of the establishment", without applying for a screening licence.
It is unclear whether this provision could also cover streaming or making a copy of unlicensed audiovisual material for distributing to students via a VLE.
Embedding AV content in teaching material via a link to the host platform could be less likely to be considered a breach of copyright by the rights-holder, providing you aren't enabling students to bypass a paywall. Be mindful that the host platform may take down material without warning.
Clipping a modest amount of AV content for use in teaching material or assessments may be permissible, providing your use is 'fair dealing'. The Channel 4 Producers' Handbook includes a very thorough guide to 'fair dealing' when reusing AV content for programme-making, which is also applicable in an educational environment.
HUSU holds a licence with the national organisation Motion Picture Licence Company (MPLC) that permits all University of Hull students, staff and HUSU staff to screen licensed films or TV programmes (from a DVD or streamed), to an audience on campus, for education or leisure purposes. You may not charge for tickets, sell refreshments or advertise the event off-campus.
Further information from HUSU about their MPLC screening licence, including advice about applying for a single-screening licence for an event where you intend to sell tickets.
Take care when utilizing other people's images in your teaching materials, to ensure that your use meets the criteria for Instruction as defined in English law:
If the image is sufficiently high quality to have a market value in its own right (for example: a film still, cartoon, photographic landscape or book cover), be mindful that should your teaching material become available online beyond the virtual classroom, the rights-holder might claim that your reproduction is competing with the market for their work.
A subscribed collection of digitized artworks licensed for educational use:
Sheet maps are not covered by the University's CLA Licence for course reading. Ordnance Survey maps are Crown Copyright, protected for 50 years from date of publication.
Reproduction of an extract from an OS map in teaching material or assessed work may be defensible as fair dealing, if there's no suitable licensed alternative.
If you are creating e-learning material using proprietary software (such as Camtasia), consider using the soundtracks provided if you wish to incorporate backing music. Or see below for a selection of music collections which are licensed for educational use.
Musical scores are protected for 70 years after the death of the composer; later additions such as lyrics, fingering or breathing marks are also protected for 70 years after the death of the creator. The typographic setting of a score is protected for 25 years from the date of publication.
Photocopying or scanning sheet music for educational purposes isn't covered by the University's CLA Licence: refer to the MPA Guidelines for Copying Sheet Music.
Sites offering music tracks with an open licence for non-commercial reuse:
To play recorded music in a non-educational setting such as a campus catering venue or public event, you will need a licence from PPL PRS Limited, who represent musicians and distributors:
Subscribed collections of current and historical newspapers which are licensed for educational use:
https://www.hull.ac.uk/library/resources/news-and-news-archives
Livestreaming a video game is technically a breach of the rights-holder's copyright in the artistic, dramatic and musical elements of the game. An article in PC Gamer (2020) sets out the arguments for and against reimbursing game developers for reuse of their material.
However, many game developers are known to tolerate livestreaming, as they benefit from the exposure. Currently, very few distributors offer any kind of educational licence for recreational video games (other than Minecraft). Use of a modest amount of video game footage with full attribution for educational purposes may be defensible as fair dealing.
Universities own the copyright in teaching materials produced by their employees, unless they have explicitly waived this right. However, some educators choose to licence their material for wider use, free of charge. See Copyright: The Basics for an overview of open licensing schemes, including Creative Commons.
Where to find OERs (University of Hull has no formal relationship with these providers)
Open Content Toolkit: created by independent education consultant and former Hull researcher Theodore Kuechel, the Toolkit consists of a curated directory of cultural heritage resources from around the world which have an open licence for educational use, plus a collaborative space for teachers. Content includes text, images, audio and multimedia digital collections from the British Library, Rijksmuseum, Smithsonian, Project Gutenberg, NASA and many more.
You may also find useful teaching material in the many e-books and e-journals which are published with Open Access.
Further support for University of Hull teaching staff:
Copyright, Fair Dealing and Online Teaching at a Time of Crisis
This blog post (18-3-2020) by UK e-learning and copyright experts Chris Morrison and Jane Secker includes free access to selected chapters from their authoritative handbook:
Copyright & E-learning: A guide for practitioners (Facet Publishing, 2018)
