Learning on ScreenJISC Legal
Copyright in one paragraph
So, how do you tackle rights clearance for academic use of film and video? I sometimes get the feeling that everyone is waiting for me to reveal a hitherto undiscovered section of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 that fixes everything. Unless someone has removed a page of my statute book, that is not going to happen. So the truth is this: if it is yours, go ahead. If you can make it yours, get it, then go ahead. If it is not yours, get permission or live dangerously. Consider statutory exceptions, but don’t get over-excited by the possibilities.
What we want (what we really, really want)
First, we need some technical assistance. A Google search for ‘Spice Girls’ will bring back plenty of hits, but what I want (what I really, really want), might be links to video I could include in a non-commercial, educational, acknowledged reuse – and that sort of information/search combination might be difficult to find.
Going back to the issue of setting a good example, we should also ensure that, where appropriate, the video being produced in academia is (in rights terms) capable of being reused as widely as we think fit. So, a quick fix to recording lectures is to ignore the rights issues involved, and keep below the parapet. However, that denies the world a valuable resource. The open education resources movement is growing, and one clear message is that materials with potential rights difficulties aren’t ‘open’ from the users’ perspective. Laborious though it may be, sorting out the rights ownership issues, the presenter’s rights, any third party rights, performance rights and moral rights makes the world a slightly more colourful place for the future.
