The Copyright Information Point
Who we are and what we doThe CIP supports education and research with everything that's copyright related. Our main responsibilities are education and answering questions about copyright. The information point consists of Hedwig Alijk, Evalien Langhorst, Mariska Schouten and Arnaud Zwakhals. The CIP is part of 'Netwerk Auteursrechten Informatiepunten' (NAI) from the Universities of applied sciences collective.
What is copyright?
Copyright is the right of the creator of a work to determine how, where and when his or her work can be made public or be reproduced. Copyright is automatically applied and is founded in the copyright act. The rights to a work that has been created in service of an employer (or on assignment), are owned by the employer. This conforms to the collective agreement for Universities of Applied Sciences, Cao-hbo article E-7 and article 7 of the Dutch copyright act.
Frequently asked questions
to the copyright information deskNo, without the permission of the copyright holder you are not allowed to scan an entire book and upload it to the LMS (Learning Management System). However, part of a book may be scanned and shared, as long as it complies with the Easy Access regulations. For additional information, please consult the section on 'Ground rules copyright'.
Only when you have the approval of the copyright holder (often the last publisher). This approval has to be in writing, for example in an agreement or an e-mail. Another option is to ask permission from UvO (publishing organisation for academic license). This organisation holds a mandate for (most) publishers to process requests of this kind. For additional information on longer quotations, please consult the section on ''Ground rules copyright'.
You may republish up to 50 pages and at most 25% from the entire work for free in e.g. a reader or LMS. Please refer to the section on 'Ground rules copyright' for a complete overview of the rules.
As an educational institution we can make use of the education exception of the Copyright Act. For that reason you may copy part of a book, provided the information is shared in a closed environment, such as MS Teams or a LMS and you comply with the Easy Access agreement guidelines. For additional information, please consult the section on 'Ground rules copyright'.
It is important to know who holds the copyright. Often it is the publisher who owns the rights for the published work. You can find out in the colophon of the book, or in the agreement entered into with the publisher. If the publisher hold the copyright, the Easy Access agreement applies. For information on what is allowed please consult the section 'Ground rules copyright'. If the author of the book holds the copyright, make sure they give (written) permission to share the book in the LMS and add the authorisation when copying.
You may republish up to 50 pages and at most 25% from the entire work for free in e.g. a reader or LMS. Please refer to the section on 'Ground rules copyright' for a complete overview of the rules.
If you have purchased (access to) an article, it does not automatically mean that you are permitted to distribute it. Publishers often charge an amount based on the number of people (students) who will have access to it, when authorising LMS distribution. If you have the publisher’s (written) consent, add it to the article in the LMS. If you do not have permission, the guidelines for short and long quotations of the Easy Access agreement apply. For an overview of the rules, please consult the section on 'Ground rules copyright'.
Articles of less than 50 pages and constituting no more than 25% of a publication may always be shared on the LMS. For some databases you are allowed to share more, which databases are listed in the section on Longer quotations. In other cases, you need written permission to share more. You may also always share articles in the LMS with a hyperlink. Make sure you create a link that does not expire and also works outside the college campus. Check out the ‘Link to the Library’ guide for information on creating stable links.
As an educational institution we can make use of the education exception of the Copyright Act. For that reason you may copy (part of) it, provided you share it in a closed environment, such as MS Teams or a LMS, and you comply with the short or longer quotations guidelines. For an overview of the rules, please consult the section on 'Ground rules copyright'.
Articles of less than 50 pages that do not exceed 25% of an issue may always be shared on the LMS. This is bought off in the Easy Access agreement. If the article is longer, permission is needed to share the entire article. You can find information about arranging permission at the Longer quotations section.
When you share a presentation in the LMS, the short quotation regulation applies of the Easy Access agreement. This means you are allowed to use up to 50 images in one presentation, of which a maximum of 25 may be from the same original work and no more than 10 from the same creator. If you want to use more images, you may freely use images with a Creative Commons license. Please refer to the Open Content section for more information. Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences also has a license for Office 365. This allows you may make unlimited use of Microsoft pictograms and clipart, providing you don't share the images in a 3rd party application e.g. on a website.
Yes, when you share your presentation in the LMS, you must reference the source of every image. You can do so on every slide, or list the sources on a separate slide. For additional information, please consult the source reference section under 'Ground rules copyright'.
There are various online resources that provide images and illustrations at no cost and that can be used without restrictions (source reference is mandatory for the LMS). Take a look at the Open Content section for examples.
Yes, but you must adhere to the Easy Access regulation. You cannot use more than 25 images from the same work without the author’s permission. You must reference the sources of the images. The material may have been bought by a student, but that is exclusive of the right to distribute it. For additional information, please consult the section 'Ground rules copyright'.
When copying from comics, count each panel as a separate image. For more information, see the 'Ground rules copyright' section.
In non-profit education, you may show audiovisual works in the (online) classroom without permission of the copyright holder. This is subject to a number of conditions, which can be found under Film & Audio, 'Internal screenings'.
Want to share a recording of your lesson? Then keep in mind the presence of third-party materials. If there are copyright-protected images or texts in the video, make sure they comply with the conditions of the Easy Access agreement. Do you show audiovisual material subject to copyright (e.g. a YouTube video)? Then you may only share this (part of the lesson) with the written permission of the copyright holder(s).
In most cases, this is only allowed with written permission from the copyright holder(s). If the video has a Creative Commons license, sharing on the LMS is allowed. Linking or embedding lawfully published videos is also allowed in European law. Therefore, check whether a video is (lawfully) online or present in the library's databases.
Only when you have (written) permission from the copyright owners. Downloading and re-uploading audiovisual material counts as republishing, even when this is done in a closed system and for educational purposes. Check the databases of the library whether the video is part of a collection, linking to the collection is always permitted. Linking and embedding of video’s that are (legally shared) online is also allowed by European law. If a video has a Creative Commons license, sharing on the LMS is allowed.
That depends on where you found the case and what the terms of use are. The Easy Access agreement allows teachers at a university of applied sciences to share up to 50 pages with a maximum of 25% of a work in a closed learning environment (LMS).
That depends. Not everything that you find on the internet is available free of charge. Material can be protected by Copyright Act. In accordance with the Copyright Act, the copyright owner has exclusive rights to communicate a work to the public, and to reproduce it (for example, copy, digitize, upload, or re-use). This means that even though a work is available online, often you may not share it. You can always link to a work. You can share all of the material in the following cases: it has a Creative Commons license (stated in the license); the copyright protection has expired; or in case of a statute, legislation, or a judgement of a court in the Netherlands. In all other cases the regulation for short and long quotations applies, or you must ask the copyright owner’s permission.
The Easy Access agreement allows you to share up to 50 pages with a maximum of 25% of a work. If particular educational materials may be shared as a whole depends on the publisher’s terms of use. If the terms of use are not clearly stated, please contact the publisher for permission. Make sure that (written) proof of authorisation is available when copying to the LMS.
This depends on the publisher's terms of use. Some publishers allow you to distribute lecture material to students, but not to modify it. If terms of use are not clearly stated with the material, please contact the publisher.