Library Research Skills
Copyright
- Legal issues
- Library issues
Copyright is a legal protection that provides rights to the creator or owner of work in question.
Rights of Copyright owners:
- Copy
- Distribute - Publish, Lend, Hire or Sell
- Adapt or Translate
- Perform or Reproduce
Anyone who creates a 'piece of work' in a permanent form e.g., writhen, recorded, painted performed, is the owner of that creation and is protected under copyright law.
However, an idea in your head - no matter how well planned and thought-out, - is not protected by copyright. You must write it, record it, paint it or put that idea into a permanently recorded format in order that the copyright and your ownership can be protected.
The Copyright Association of Ireland 
site gives a very good introduction and explanation of Copyright Law in Ireland.
Copyright and Printed Resources
Works in the Public Domain:
If a piece of work is in the Public Domain, anyone may use it without permission.
The Public Domain comprises for all works that are not copyright-protected and may be borrowed or copied without permission being sought.
Some examples of this are:
- materials produced by national and local government
- older works for which the copyright has expired.
(Normally copyright lasts for the creator's lifetime plus seventy years, under Irish law.)
USA Copyright Website 
Irish Patents Office
COPYRIGHT (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1987 Ireland
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section
1. Amendment of section 14 of Copyright Act, 1963.
2. Amendment of section 27 of Copyright Act, 1963.
3. Short title, construction and collective citation.
ACT REFERRED TO
Exemptions to Copyright Laws:
- Fair use for the purposes of research or private study.
- For purposes of criticism or review provided it is accompanied by an acknowledgement.
- For the purposes or relating current events (except in the case of a photograph).
- Educational establishments
- Library exemptions
- Lending exemptions (prescribed libraries and educational establishments)
Fair Use
Fair Use is a slightly more complicated concept than Public Domain as it applies to the use of copyrighted materials.
"Fair use provisions of the copyright laws, grant particular types of users conditional to use or reproduce certain copyrighted materials as long as the reproduction or use of those materials meets defined guidelines"
(Simpson,2001)
Fair Use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phono records, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include the following:
- the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for non-profit educational purposes;
- the nature of the copyrighted work;
- the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
- the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.
Based on instructions used in some Irish third level institutions.
Check Out Webnet.ie for more information.
Educational establishments (Exemptions).
Literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works can be copied for the purposes of instruction and of preparation for instruction provided:
- the copying is done by or on behalf of the person giving the instruction
- the copying is not by means of a reprographic process
- the copy is accompanied by sufficient acknowledgement.
- A copy of a recording, literary, dramatic work etc can be made for the purposes of setting or answering the questions in an examination.
- A copy can also be done for the purposes of an examination by way of communicating the questions to the exam candidates.
- A copy of a recording can be played in an educational institution before an audience limited to teachers and pupils of that educational establishment or other persons directly connected with the activities of the establishment.
- The playing or showing of the recording can be made by a teacher or pupil in the course of the activities of the establishment concerned, or by any person for the purposes of instruction.
- A parent or guardian of a pupil in the educational establishment is not a person directly connected with the activities of the educational institution.
- Recording by educational establishments of broadcasts and television programmes are not permitted where there is a licensing scheme and the person making the copy knew or ought to have known of its existence.
Reprographic copying:
Reprographic copies of passages from literary, dramatic or musical works or typographical arrangements or original databases are permitted provided they are:
- For educational purposes
- With sufficient acknowledgement
- Maximum 5% of any work in any calendar year
(There is no mention made of limit on number of copies)
BUT
This does not apply where a certified licensing scheme exists.
No copy made under any educational exemption can be subsequently:
- Sold
- Rented
- Lent
Libraries & Archives.
Libraries can supply or make available a copy of a work providing the requestor furnishes a copyright declaration unless the librarian knows the declaration to be false.
- The library cannot make or supply a copy if a declaration is not supplied.
- If a requestor makes a false declaration he/she shall be infringing copyright.
- Libraries can only supply a copy to a person who requires the copy for the purposes of research and private study.
- He/she can only be given 1 copy unless a previous copy given was lost, stolen, discarded, damaged or a reasonable amount of time has elapsed. In that case the requestor will not be furnished with a copy of more than a reasonable proportion of any recording or performance.
- A copy cannot be supplied to any more than 3 persons whose requirements are similar.
What are similar requirements?
- Requirements that are for copies of substantially the same material at approximately the same time and for the same purpose.
- If those persons receive instructions to which the material is relevant at the same time and place.
The library can make a copy of a work in order to preserve or replace that work by placing the copy in a permanent collection in addition to or in place of that recording.
The library can also replace a copy of another library whose work has been lost, destroyed and damaged.
The library can also make a copy for:
- Obtaining insurance cover for the copy
- Purposes of security
- Compiling or preparing an archival record for exhibition in the library.
- For purposes of compiling or preparing a catalogue
- For exhibition in the library or archive
What can be copied without infringing copyright?
- Table of contents page from a periodical (not counted as an article)
- Journal articles, which shall consist of as many articles from a volume as there are issues in the volume or 10%, whichever is the greater. (E.g. 10 issues in a volume, can copy 10 articles. Can be 10 articles from 1 issue or dispersed throughout the volume).
- A reasonable amount from published works other than journal articles. (No definition here of reasonable).
In Ireland protection of Copyright is automatic:
There is no system of registration for copyright protection in Ireland as copyright arises automatically on the creation of an original work. You do not need to publish your work, to put a copyright notice on it or do anything else to be covered by copyright - protection is free and automatic.
A work is protected automatically from the time it is first written down or recorded in some way, provided that it has resulted from the creator's skill and effort and is not simply copied from another work.
Depending on the circumstances, it may be difficult for an author to prove that he or she had created a work at a specific point in time. Proof of this fact might be needed in an action for infringement. An author can create such proof by sending a copy of the work to himself or herself by registered post, keeping the post office receipt and leaving the envelope unopened. Another way of creating this type of proof is to deposit the work with an organisation such as the Copyright Protection Agency, which, for a fee, will provide the necessary proof should the need arise.
In the USA there is a procedure for registering copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office.
Under US copyright law, anything original and creative put into a tangible form is automatically protected by copyright from the moment you create it.
Note: this includes e-mail and Web pages.
In the US there are 3 primary reasons to register copyright:
- you put your copyrighted material on public record and receive a certificate of registration.
- you have the ability to sue in the case of infringement of your copyright
- Your copyright registration will assist you with the award of statutory damages and legal fees
The Copyright Notice ©
A copyright notice does not need to be placed on a work before it is protected by copyright. However, it is prudent to do so as it reminds people that the work is protected and identifies the person claiming the rights. The notice usually consists of the symbol © followed by the name of the author and the date of creation.
Copyright (c) 2005 by Susan Kelly, Wexford County Library Service. Last modified 5th December 2005. Adapted from Riedling, Ann Marlow 2002 Learning to learn; a guide to becoming information literate. New York: Neal-Schuman
