European Union Copyright Directive

On 31st October 2003, the European Union Directive on copyright and related rights in the information society (the “Copyright Directive”) was implemented in the UK. The effects and possible effects of the new law are still being discussed but there is a significant change to the defence of fair dealing and to the exception of library privilege. 

Prior to 31st October 2003, anyone could make a single copy of an insubstantial part of a copyright work for their own private study or research, regardless of whether their private study or research was for commercial or non-commercial purposes. Equally, under library privilege, Information Services (IS) could supply such a copy to an individual for the same reasons, provided that a signed copyright declaration was obtained from the recipient. Under the new law, this has changed. The defence of fair dealing now cannot apply where the private study or research is for a commercial purpose, whether direct or indirect. Copies also cannot be supplied by IS under library privilege where the recipient’s private study or research is directly or indirectly for a commercial purpose.

Visit:  Fair dealing: copying for private study or research

What is a commercial purpose?

Regrettably, the law does not clearly define “a commercial purpose”. In general, any activity which generates income may be regarded as commercial. The British Library FAQ website provides some useful illustrations of commercial/non-commercial scenarios.

Visit: British Library FAQ website (external site)

The commercial purpose needs to be apparent at the time the copy is made or requested. If a copy is made or supplied for genuine non-commercial purposes it does not matter if it is later used for a commercial purpose, provided that this was not envisaged at the time the copy was made or requested. 

Who decides?

The burden of deciding whether copying is for a commercial purpose lies with the individual making or requesting the copy. You will therefore need to think about this before copying and in particular, before requesting any material via IS Document Delivery as the declaration you must first sign specifies that the material is for your own private study or non-commercial research.

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No, the statutory limits to copying under library privilege and the similar advisory limits for fair dealing for private study or research remain unchanged. These are:

• A single extract or several extracts from a book as long as the total copied is not more than 5% of the whole work, OR
• one chapter from a book, OR
• one article from a journal or newspaper issue, OR
• one paper from a set of conference proceedings, OR
• one single case from a volume of law reports, OR
• Poems, short stories and other short literary works may be copied so long as they are not more than ten pages long.  

The new law affects anyone making a copy for a commercial purpose. As far as members of the University are concerned, however, at the moment it is believed that much of our copying will usually be covered by the CLA HE Licence. To be protected in this way, the copying must be from Licensed Material, i.e. from works covered by the CLA Licence, not on the current CLA List of Excluded Categories and Works (also available next to photocopiers) and copied from an original owned by the University. The copying must also be within the limits laid down by the CLA HE Licence. The copying must be kept to the member of staff concerned or distributed only to current registered students and/or staff of the University.

If you wish to copy or request copied material for a commercial purpose and this copying or request would not be covered by the CLA HE Licence, e.g. it was from a non-participating publisher, then it would have to be obtained Copyright Fee Paid (CFP) from the British Library. Ask at IS Document Delivery for more information on the CFP service. Alternatively, prior written permission to copy could be obtained from the rights holder(s). 

For more information visit the following webpages:

• Copyright Licensing Agency
• List of Excluded Categories and Works (external site)
• Document Delivery

For more information about the Copyright Directive, visit the following:

• Guidelines on the recent changes to copyright law (PDF file)
  A guide by Graham Cornish of The Copyright Circle (Libraries and Archives Copyright Alliance and Museums Copyright Group)
• Intellectual Property Office - Copyright (external website) 
• Statutory Instrument 2003 No. 2498 - The Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003(external website)
  Full text of the statutory instrument which implemented the Directive into UK law
• Note on changes to UK copyright law (external website)
  A Joint Note from the British Library (BL) and The Copyright Agency Ltd (CLA)
• LACA: Libraries and Archives Copyright Alliance