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Copyright arises automatically and is an exclusive economic right granted to the creator of an original work to permit or prevent other people from using it. ​Works are protected regardless of artistic merit, although they need to be original and created by a "natural person". Copyright protects the expression of an idea, but not the idea itself.

During employment, in general, the first copyright owner would be your employer unless there is an agreement to the contrary. Please make sure you read your contract and the copyright policy thoroughly while employed by the University.

Copyright ownership at the University depends on the type of work and who created it.

• Academic staff generally create works owned by the University when produced as part of their employment, including teaching materials. However, authors usually retain copyright in their scholarly works, while granting the University a non-exclusive licence to make research publications openly available.
• Students normally retain copyright in their work, such as dissertations and theses, unless specific agreements or funded projects provide otherwise.
• Non-academic staff typically do not own the copyright in work created as part of their employment; it is usually owned by the University.

While copyright law safeguards the interests of creators, it also recognises the need for fair dealing and other exceptions to ensure the dissemination of knowledge and creativity. These exceptions allow for the use of copyrighted materials without the express permission of the copyright holder under specific circumstances. For more information on copyright exceptions, see the copyright basics section.

 is a UK legal doctrine allowing limited use of copyrighted material without permission. However, determining what constitutes fair dealing is complex and decided on a case-by-case basis by courts.

Key factors considered include:

• Market impact: Whether your use substitutes for the original work, potentially harming the copyright owner's income.
• Amount used: Whether the portion taken is reasonable and necessary. Generally, only part of a work can be used.
• Nature of the use: The specific context and purpose of the use will influence the assessment.

It is important to note that fair dealing rules vary by country. Do not rely on the concept of "fair use" as it is a US-specific exception.

For a more detailed guide on fair dealing, please refer to .

We do not recommend using external AI tools for summarising articles or book chapters which you have downloaded through library subscriptions. If you wish to do so, please use the University Copilot 365 subscription.

Students following taught programmes of study will normally retain ownership of Intellectual Property where they can demonstrate that they have developed it during their studies or through use of University facilities.

No. Plagiarism and copyright infringement are distinct concepts: plagiarism is an ethical issue, while copyright infringement is a legal one.

Plagiarism occurs when someone uses another person's ideas, words, or creative work without providing appropriate acknowledgement, even if that work is no longer protected by copyright. For example, presenting lines from Shakespeare as your own original writing would be considered plagiarism. Although plagiarism is not generally a legal offence, it is treated seriously by educational institutions and organisations and can result in academic or professional sanctions.

Copyright infringement, by contrast, occurs when a person uses material protected by copyright in a way that violates one or more of the copyright holder's exclusive rights, without permission. However, not every unauthorised use constitutes infringement, as certain exceptions, such as fair dealing may apply. Unlike plagiarism, copyright infringement is a legal matter and can lead to significant consequences, including financial penalties and legal action.

The Library pays for licences that provide access to online resources such as ebooks and journal articles. As a student, you may download and print limited portions of these materials, typically up to one chapter from a book or two articles from a single journal issue. Please ensure you comply with these licence conditions.

Unless the material is available under a Creative Commons licence or another open licence, you must not share copies with anyone outside the University who does not have authorised access. Doing so may breach copyright and licence agreements.

Works are protected automatically and do not need to be registered. If you create an original work, you automatically own the copyright to it, unless it was produced as part of your employment. Copyright protection arises automatically, so there is no need to apply for or register it. While you can include a copyright notice (©) on your work, this is optional and does not affect your legal rights. It is also important to remember that copyright protects the expression of ideas in a work, not the ideas themselves.

For different licensing types, you can have a look at the or contact the Copyright and Licensing Manager.

Crown copyright, as defined in Section 163 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, applies to works created by Crown officers or employees as part of their official duties.

The Crown may own copyright either because the work was produced by a government employee in the course of their role, or because the copyright has been transferred to the Crown by the original rights holder. Where copyright is transferred to the Crown through assignment, protection generally continues for 70 years after the creator's death.

Exceptions to the law, only allow limited showing of films on campus. The showings need to happen in a closed environment, and also during normal teaching hours and they need to be part of the curriculum / module.

If you wish to show movies outside of that, you will need a license. You can obtain such a licence from companies like  and  (MPLC). They both provide a Single Title Screening Licence (STSL) for non-theatrical screenings. Most importantly, Filmbankmedia and MPLC can offer specialist advice. If you are at London Campus, there is already a MPLC license in place. Please make sure that the film you wish to show is distributed in the UK by MPLC.

If the film is not available through these licensing companies, you may need to contact the film’s distributor directly. The  (BBFC) register can help you find the distributor.

For more information on showing films at the University why not have a look at this blog post or contact the Copyright and Licensing Manager.

That depends. If the images have been shared under a permissive licence or copyright has expired, then yes. For all other images, you will need to find the copyright holder and request permission. Be aware that this might incur a charge.

For more information on image use, why not have a look at our blog post on or contact the Copyright and Licensing Manager.

Rights retention is an approach that allows researchers and authors to keep key rights in their scholarly works, even when publishing with a journal or publisher.

Rather than transferring all copyright to a publisher, the author retains sufficient rights to:

• Share their work in an institutional or subject repository.
• Make the accepted manuscript openly available.
• Reuse the work for teaching, presentations, and future research.
• Comply with funder or institutional open access requirements.

In practice, rights retention often works by the author granting their institution or funder a non-exclusive licence to make the work openly available, while still allowing publication in a journal. For more information have a look at the Rights Retention policy.

Not all research data is protected by copyright. Copyright generally protects original creative works, such as articles, reports, photographs, software code, and databases that demonstrate sufficient intellectual creation. However, raw facts, measurements, observations, and numerical data are not usually protected by copyright because copyright does not protect facts or ideas.

That said, a collection of data may be protected if there has been significant intellectual effort in selecting, arranging, or presenting the data. In some cases, databases may also benefit from database rights.

If you are using or sharing research data created by others, you should consider whether copyright, database rights, confidentiality obligations, data protection legislation, or licence terms apply. When in doubt, check the terms of use or seek advice before reusing the data.

Not necessarily. Most images found through Google Search are protected by copyright. Before using an image in a presentation, website, report, or promotional material, you should ensure you have permission to use it, that it is covered by a suitable licence (such as a Creative Commons licence), or that an exception applies. Always check and comply with any licence terms, including attribution requirements.

For images on University facing websites or blogs, please make sure you use Adobe Stock image library to which the University holds a subscription.

If you receive a copyright infringement, please contact Legal Services and the Copyright and Licensing Manager which as much information as you can. Also forward any communications you have received in relation to the copyright infringement complaint. If it is a genuine complaint, you might be liable for paying the fine, so please make sure that all third-party material you have used are cleared.

It depends on where you would like to use the AI generated works. From a copyright point of view, we would not recommend it, especially not images, as it is easy to infringe without realising. However, if you do, please make sure you cite it accordingly and tag images as AI generated.

Yes. Copyright can subsist in original written works, including minutes, reports, policies, guidance documents, and other materials created by Professional Services staff.