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P Copyright, IP and Creative Commons licensing at UCT – Savvy Researcher Series 03 April 2014 Dr. Tobias Schonwetter Director: UCT IP Unit
P Copyright, IP and Creative Commons licensing at UCT –
Savvy Researcher Series
03 April 2014
Dr. Tobias Schonwetter
Director: UCT IP Unit
<copyright 101>
Copyright is only one pillar of the IP protection regime; others:
Patents Trademarks Designs
“Copyright is the exclusive right in relation to work
embodying intellectual content to do or to authorize to do
certain acts in relation to that work.”
“uses”
What is intended by copyright law?
Fair balance between the interests of right owners and public/users
Protected works in SA
1. Literary, musical and artistic works; 2. Cinematograph films; 3. Sound recordings; 4. Broadcasts; 5. Computer programs
1. reproduce 2. make adaptations 3. broadcast 4. distribute 5. perform 6. display in public 7. cause a work to be transmitted in a diffusion service
Exclusive (economic) rights (“certain acts”)
1. Integrity (right to object to derogatory treatment) 2. Paternity (right to be identified as the author)
Plus: Moral rights
Basic requirements for copyright protection
§ Originality
§ Material form
§ (Qualified person)
no registration necessary
the idea itself is NOT protected
ü depending on the nature of work
ü rule of thumb: end of the year in which author dies + 50 years,
or 50 years from end of the year in which work was made available to the public (cinematograph films, photographs)
10 30 40 50 20
Duration of copyright protection in SA
Default & automatic All Rights Reserved situation
The way copyright laws around the world operate is that the moment creative works are created (written works, music,
photographs etc), creators automatically get a monopoly that allows them to decide if and under what
circumstances others can use this work.
<dealing with copyrights>
2 main ways of disposing of / dealing with copyrights
Assignment & Licensing
Assignment = transfer of rights
Licence = permission to make use of copyrighted material
Exclusive licence Permission that excludes all other persons to use
the work in a similar fashion
Different kinds of licences
Non-exclusive licence Permission to use but
similar licences can be granted to others
Open licence vs restrictive licence
Compulsory licence …provides users with a
right to use against payment set by law.
Exclusive licences need to be in writing!
But can they be in electronic form?
Yes, in South Africa [ss 11, 12 ECT Act]
Copyright holders frequently allow collective management
organisations (“collecting societies”) to grant licences, monitor uses of copyrighted material and collect
royalties from users on their behalf.
UCT’s blanket licence agreement
<the public domain>
The public domain Public domain works are those works whose use is not restricted by copyright
• Copyright term expired
• Works that are not copyright protected (eg official texts of a legislative, administrative or legal nature)
Permission is required for most uses of most works!
<copyright exceptions and limitations>
Unless a copyright exception and limitation applies.
Copyright exception and limitation
Copyright e&l curtail the exclusive rights assigned by copyright law to the copyright holder. They do this to promote
the public interest and to respect users’ legitimate interests in using copyright protected material in certain circumstances
without the permission of the rights holder.
Relevant examples
ü Fair dealing (study, research, private use)
ü Exceptions for educational purposes
ü Exceptions for libraries and archives
ü Quotations ü Etc.
Chapter 1 of the Copyright Regulations contains some exceptions and limitations for reproduction and dissemination of copyrighted works by
libraries and archives.
Hence: Copyright e & l could be a key enabler
for legal access to knowledge material…
“O#en, the scope of (educa&onal) excep&ons and excep3ons for libraries and archives is unclear, par3cular in the digital environment.”
However,
”reasonable por3on”
“no conflict with normal exploita3on”
“not unreasonable prejudice the legi3mate interests of the rights
holder”
“no direct or indirect commercial advantage”
<the digital environment>
Why is digital different?
ü unlimited number of copies
ü virtually instantaneously
ü no loss of quality
ü easy to modify
ü easy to distribute
ü distribution of copies around the world in seconds
ü new search and linking capabilities
ü Sometimes no human author
ü “multimedia” works
… one example:
And our old laws are ill-equipped to deal with these changes
S12 General exceptions from protection of literary and musical works (1) Copyright shall not be infringed by any fair dealing with a literary or musical work- (a) for the purposes of research or private study by, or the personal or private use of, the person using the work; (b) for the purposes of criticism or review of that work or of another work; or (c) for the purpose of reporting current events- […]
S17 General exceptions regarding protection of sound recordings
The provisions of section 12 (1) (b) and (c), (2), (3), (4), (5), (12) and (13) shall mutatis mutandis apply with reference to sound recordings.
And copying became much easier
<new approaches and open licensing>
Academic content is increasingly becoming
unaffordable
Open Access & Open Educational Resources (OERs) as legal approaches to
overcome some of the problems for access to and (re-)use of knowledge material
To make learning materials more accessible, affordable and re-useable
Open educa&onal resources are educa&onal materials and resources offered freely and openly for anyone to use and under some open licenses to re-‐mix, improve and
redistribute, including learning content.
Open Access is the prac3ce of providing unrestricted access via the Internet to peer-‐reviewed scholarly journal
ar&cles. Open Access is also increasingly being provided to theses, scholarly monographs
and book chapters.
{author fees – paid by libraries?}
Business model???
A few examples…
… calls on governments worldwide to openly license publicly funded educa3onal materials for public use.
But to make all this work legally you need open licences!
Default & automatic All Rights Reserved situation
Remember?
One of the most widely used system of open licences:
Creative Commons provides free licences that make it easier for people:
to disseminate their works and
share and build upon the work of others
consistent with the rules of copyright.
A set of pre-formulated licences
More than 500 million CC licensed works on the
Internet
If you are looking for CC licensed material created by others, …
Or look out for a symbol like this:
If you want to distribute your material under a CC licence, ….
Or: go to
www.creativecommons.org
And follow the instructions on the website to attach the chosen licence to your work.
Creative Commons Licence
This presentation is the work of Dr Tobias Schonwetter.
It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 South Africa License.
To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/za/ or send a letter to:
Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.
