Copyright for lecturers
Copyright is often seen as something tricky that can hold you back and restrict your teaching. That doesn’t have to be the case – we’re here to help you deliver the content you need, in the way that you need it.
Do you need a scanned copy of a specific chapter or article for any of your Moodle units? Our digitisation service is here to help you, just fill in the form and we’ll do the rest.
Copyright for Teaching Materials
To help with many of your copyright queries, we’ve created an interactive guide for teaching staff to check the options for using various media in a range of scenarios whether it be in a lecture, on Moodle or online, etc. Click the button below to use this interactive guide.
If you haven’t found the answer to your query using this tool or you have a question about using material for teaching, please email us at library@mmu.ac.uk and our copyright team will get back to you within two working days.
I have a non-teaching question, can you help me?
We’re happy to help with non-teaching queries from all ManMet colleagues regarding copyright-related issues. You may find the answer on our FAQs page. If the answer’s not there or your question is very niche, please email us at library@mmu.ac.uk with the full details.
You may also be a publishing author and have concerns related to clearing permissions for re-using the work of others, or about the contract you’re signing with a publisher.
Copyright FAQs
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Who will own the Copyright in any Works that I produce as a member of staff?
The starting rule is that first owner of copyright will be the author. However, there are a number of exceptions to this rule including works created during the course of employment.
In general, for material produced by an employee in the course of her/his work at MMU, the copyright belongs to MMU.
For more details, please refer to Manchester Metropolitan University’s Intellectual Property Policy.
Copyright can also be bought, sold (assigned) or licensed to another person or organisation. Additionally, where the work has been commissioned from a third party (for example under a contract for services or other agreement) the contractor will often own the copyright. This may also be the case for academic articles as usually the publisher will own the copyright under a publishing agreement rather than the author or MMU.
In some situations, where there is a joint contribution there may be joint ownership of works.
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Is it ok for someone to copy chapters or all of a book and put them on Moodle (or a blog)?
Without permission from the rightsholder (publisher / author) such copying is not allowed because it breaches copyright and can get you and Manchester Metropolitan University into bother. Manchester Metropolitan University has a licence from the Copyright Licencing Agency (CLA) which permits a reasonable amount of copying - please use the Digitisation service, it’s really easy to make requests and they should be satisfied within 7 working days.
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What does fair dealing mean when you're copying for teaching?
If you need to make use of someone else’s copyright protected work there are some exceptions to copyright law for teaching which may help. These are subject to the ‘fair dealing’ test.
Using fair dealing, you may be permitted to carry out copying without either seeking permission from the owner or copying under licence. For example, copying a chapter or article is covered by the Copyright Licensing Agency Licence and is managed for you by the Library’s Digitisation service so fair dealing doesn’t usually apply. If Manchester Met holds a licence, it’s safer to do the copying that way rather than by use of an exception, but sometimes a licence can’t help and we need to look to an exception instead.
These legal exceptions for teaching allow you to copy works in any medium as long as the use is purely to illustrate a point. The copying should be for non-commercial purposes, and it is best practice to accompany the usage with an acknowledgement of the source (unless that’s really impractical for you).
Last but not least, your use should be ‘fair dealing’ which basically means you should only use as much as you really need to. So minor uses, such as a few lines of text on an interactive whiteboard are okay, but uses which would undermine sales of teaching materials are not. You should avoid copying large amounts of material or whole books for example.
The tests for fair dealing mean you need to think about whether your use of someone else’s work is fair. The amount is not defined by law so deciding on whether something is fair will always need to be done on a case-by-case basis. If you’re unsure about whether the amount you need to copy is fair, we’re here to help and you can contact us at library@mmu.ac.uk for guidance.
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Which licence do I need to show a film at Manchester Metropolitan University?
Films are protected works under UK copyright law which means that showing films at Manchester Met in the course of teaching may risk infringing copyright. The good news is that if the films are on BoB (Box of Broadcasts) or Kanopy, the usage is covered by a licence.
There are also exceptions in copyright law (in particular s.32 of the CDPA 1988 as amended in 2014) that permit you to show a clips or a whole film for educational purposes (illustration for instruction) in the classroom. This usage is subject to the ‘fair dealing’ principle so your showing should be non-commercial in nature, only show as much as you need to get your point across (this can include a whole film) and you should accompany it with a sufficient acknowledgement (unless impossible for reasons of practicality or otherwise).
However, if you want to show a film for any other purpose than an educational one, or to a public audience not entirely made up of students on a course, you’ll need to obtain a screening licence. Examples of this are showing a film for entertainment in the SU or playing a film in the background at an event.
Here are some licensing options:
MPLC (Motion Picture Licensing Company)
BFI – for films from their catalogue
If you’re in doubt or need further guidance, get in contact via library@mmu.ac.uk