Copyright, Designs and Patents Act

This law essentially says you can’t use other people’s work without their permission. The term ‘work’ includes:

• Text (books, magazines, leaflets etc)
• Images
• Computer Software
• Music
• Films & TV
• Art
• Live performances

Therefore, you cannot just copy any of these 'works' without permission.

When you buy a film, song, book etc you are buying the rights to a copy. This does not mean you can do what you want with it, but you can use it for your personal use. However, as soon as what you are producing is going to be seen / heard by others then you are no longer covered.

When you are producing ICT products in school you are covered by educational copying licences held by your school. These allow you to copy items for research or study without asking for or paying for permission, but you must acknowledge where you got it from, in the product. However, this covers non-commercial (educational) use so should not be used to promote events, or for other uses outside of the school environment.

Some people offer their work copyright free, use the ‘Usage rights’ tool in Google images to help find images without copyright restrictions—Google it to find out how!

Copyright for Teachers

Most educational establishments hold educational copying licences. So if a school wants to record television broadcasts, it needs a licence from the Educational Recording Agency. If it wants to photocopy extracts from books, it needs a licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency. Most educational establishments already hold these licences.

These licensing schemes are underpinned by copyright exceptions which mean that, where a particular work is not covered by a licence, an educational establishment is still able to copy it. This means that teachers do not have to check the terms of each item they want to copy before they copy it.

the law apply these exceptions to a wider range of copyright works which were previously not covered – such as artistic works (including photographs), films and sound recordings. They also permit sharing of copies over secure distance learning networks

The law allows limited copying of works for the purposes of teaching, provided it meets a general “fair dealing” exception, allowing copying of works in any medium as long as the following conditions apply:

1. the work must be used solely to illustrate a point
2. the use of the work must not be for commercial purposes
3. the use must be fair dealing (this means that it should not impact on sales of the works, e.g. copying an entire textbook for students means the school doesn't need to buy the books)
4. it must be accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement.

If schools purchase materials then you need to be aware of the licence that it is covered by:

• Can you photocopy it?
• Can it be passed on to others?
• Can it be shared within school?
• Can it be uploaded on to a VLE?

This should all be covered in the original purchase licence.

For more information see these links:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/375951/Education_and_Teaching.pdf

^{https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/intellectual-property-office}

^{http://www.copyrightandschools.org/}​

^{http://www.bbc.co.uk/copyrightaware/what-is} ​

^{https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/}