Copyright

The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, amended by the Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003, provides the legislative framework for copyright matters in the United Kingdom.

The links below provide guidance for London Business School Library users on photocopying from published works, copyright issues relating to electronic information and links to relevant web sites which may provide further information. 

These pages are intended for information only and are in no way a statement of copyright law.

 

Information for our own staff and students on the use of copyright materials in teaching and learning (for example in relation to course packs) is available from the Courses area of  Portal, the London Business School's intranet.


Copying for private study or research

Basic permission to photocopy from books and journals published in the UK extends to the copying of:

  • One complete chapter from a book
  • One whole article from a single issue of a journal
  • No more than 5 per cent of a given work, whichever is the greater


Fuller information together with a list of excluded material is contained in the Copyright Licensing Agency's 'Licensed copying user guidelines' displayed by School photocopiers.

Copying for commercial purposes

Please note if you wish to photocopy library materials for commercial purposes you should purchase the relevant number of CLA stickers, available from the library desk at a fee of £9 each, and attach one sticker to each copy to indicate that it is made under licence.


Copyright issues for electronic information


Overview

In the same way that printed works are protected by copyright, information published in electronic form is also controlled by strict conditions covering its use.  Copyright protection means that you may only use the electronic work (be it a document in HTML or Acrobat PDF formats, a computer program, a share price graph or file of statistical data) within the scope of the authorisation imposed by the copyright owner of the electronic work.

Restrictions on the use of electronic works

The copyright owner of an electronic work will normally impose the following kind of authorisation on its use:
You may print and/or download a single copy for personal use for private study and research.


The following kinds of use are normally explicitly prohibited (at least without first securing formal prior permission from the copyright owner):

  • Copying or reproduction
  • Distribution
  • Republishing
  • Selling


In the case of commercially published electronic information, such authorisations and restrictions on use are normally defined in a licence or service agreement document.  At London Business School, such contract documents are normally signed between the School and the copyright owner of electronic works, and require the School's employees and students to conform to the terms of the authorisations and restrictions defined in the contract document.


Practical implications of copyright on electronic works

Although recent developments in information technology have made it easy to copy, reproduce, distribute or even sell, electronic information, such practice may be unlawful under the terms of the legal agreement that protects the copyright of an electronic work and defines the scope of its use. 

Below are some examples of practice that would be unlawful:

  • Copying or reproducing: downloading an HTML or Acrobat PDF document, printing it and then making multiple photocopies; or making copies of the document computer file.
  • Distributing: downloading a document as an Acrobat PDF file and sending it as an email "attachment" to one or more other individuals.
  • Republishing: placing a document protected by electronic copyright on a personal or commercial web server for others to access.
  • Selling: selling a copy of an electronic work.


Relevant Agencies

The following agencies may be useful to those with a particular question relating to copyright:

Using the Library

Copyright information