TEL: Staff FAQ and Support

Any 3rd party materials used by staff in teaching and learning must adhere to copyright law. Using images and audio-visual material can be challenging due to the multi-layered rights involved. The following guidance offers a brief ‘need to know’ overview of some essentials, but we recommend you visit the University of Liverpool Copyright: Information for Teaching Lib Guide for detailed guidance. The Copyright Lib Guide from Swansea University is also a useful reference site.

If your recording includes material whose copyright is owned by 3rd parties, one of the following must apply to use the materials legitimately:

• The material is out of copyright / Public Domain;
• You own the copyright of the material;
• The University of Liverpool owns the copyright;
• The copyright has been waived;
• Direct permission (for recording and electronic distribution) has been granted;
• A licence applies (e.g. Educational Recording Agency (ERA) Licence, Creative Commons / Open Access Licences, Subscription Licences)
• An educational exception has been granted under UK copyright law (CDPA 1988) and the use is considered ‘fair dealing’*

*Response to RLUK letter by Amanda Solloway MP in relation to copyright and the use of educational materials online during COVID-19. 23/04/2020

“… (Section 32 CDPA) allows copyright works to be used for illustrative purposes during teaching as long as their use is fair, non-commercial, limited to the persons giving and receiving instruction, and acknowledges rights holders. Many materials used in presentations by teachers, including those which are streamed remotely to students, are likely to fall within this provision.”

Top Tips

• Always attribute your sources unless the rights holder has explicitly stated this is not required.
• Try to find and use images released under a creative commons licence, or use images from specialist sites where permission is already granted through a license, such as Clinical Key Images. Although it is easy to download images from the Internet and include them in your presentations, these images will almost certainly be subject to some sort of copyright – so get into the habit of reading the terms of use.
• if you want to include a short clip of a 3rd party video that is hosted on YouTube in your presentation you should: confirm that the material does not infringe copyright and insert a link to YouTube at the required point in your recording, rather than play the video whilst you are creating your presentation recording. Recording a presentation that includes an embedded copy of another video may infringe copyright, and can result in a poor quality capture. Note: Users accessing YouTube from China will be unable to access due to restrictions in place by the Chinese government. For a full list of banned sites please see the Wikipedia page on websites blocked in mainland China.
• Links to TV and radio programmes broadcast in the media can be added to your Panopto recordings as hyperlinks, with acknowledgement, due to the University's purchase of the ERA+ Licence and membership of the British Universities Film and Video Council (BUFVC). Search ERA Radio and TV Services or Box of Broadcasts (BoB). Note: Recordings will only be accessible to users within the UK.

If you have any copyright questions you can contact the School Liaison Librarian, Louise Minta.