1. P Copyright, IP and Creative Commons licensing at UCT –
Savvy Researcher Series
03 April 2014
Dr. Tobias Schonwetter
Director: UCT IP Unit

2. <copyright 101>

3. Copyright is only one pillar of the IP protection regime; others:
Patents
Trademarks
Designs

4. “Copyright is the exclusive
right in relation to work
embodying intellectual content to
do or to authorize to do
certain acts in relation to
that work.”
“uses”

5. What is intended
by copyright law?

6. Fair balance between the interests
of right owners and public/users

7. Protected works in SA
1. Literary, musical and artistic works;
2. Cinematograph films;
3. Sound recordings;
4. Broadcasts;
5. Computer programs

8. 1. reproduce
2. make adaptations
3. broadcast
4. distribute
5. perform
6. display in public
7. cause a work to be transmitted in a diffusion service
Exclusive (economic) rights (“certain acts”)

9. 1. Integrity (right to object to derogatory treatment)
2. Paternity (right to be identified as the author)
Plus: Moral rights

10. Basic requirements for copyright protection
§ Originality
§ Material form
§ (Qualified person)
no registration necessary
the idea itself is NOT protected

11. ü depending on the nature of work
ü rule of thumb: end of the year in which
author dies + 50 years,
or 50 years from end of the year in which
work was made available to the public
(cinematograph films, photographs)
10 30 40 5020
Duration of copyright protection in SA

12. Default & automatic All Rights Reserved situation

13. The way copyright laws around the world operate is that
the moment creative works are created (written works, music,
photographs etc), creators automatically get a monopoly
that allows them to decide if and under what
circumstances others can use this work.

14. <dealing with copyrights>

15. 2 main ways of disposing of / dealing with copyrights

16. Assignment & Licensing

17. Assignment = transfer of rights
Licence = permission to make use of
copyrighted material

18. Exclusive licence
Permission that excludes
all other persons to use
the work in a similar
fashion
Different kinds of licences
Non-exclusive licence
Permission to use but
similar licences can be
granted to others
Open licence vs restrictive licence
Compulsory licence
…provides users with a
right to use against
payment set by law.

19. Exclusive licences need to be in writing!

20. But can they be in electronic form?
Yes, in South Africa [ss 11, 12 ECT Act]

21. Copyright holders frequently allow collective management
organisations (“collecting societies”) to grant
licences, monitor uses of copyrighted material and collect
royalties from users on their behalf.
UCT’s blanket licence agreement

22. <the public domain>

23. The public domain
Public domain works are those works
whose use is not restricted by copyright
• Copyright term expired
• Works that are not copyright protected
(eg official texts of a legislative,
administrative or legal nature)

25. Permission is required for most uses of most works!

26. <copyright exceptions and limitations>

27. Unless a copyright exception
and limitation applies.

28. Copyright exception and limitation
Copyright e&l curtail the exclusive rights assigned by
copyright law to the copyright holder. They do this to promote
the public interest and to respect users’ legitimate interests in
using copyright protected material in certain circumstances
without the permission of the rights holder.

29. Relevant examples
ü Fair dealing (study, research, private use)
ü Exceptions for educational purposes
ü Exceptions for libraries and archives
ü Quotations
ü Etc.

30. Chapter 1 of the Copyright Regulations contains
some exceptions and limitations for reproduction
and dissemination of copyrighted works by
libraries and archives.

31. Hence: Copyright e & l could be a key enabler
for legal access to knowledge material…

32. “O#en,
the
scope
of
(educa&onal)
excep&ons
and
excep3ons
for
libraries
and
archives
is
unclear,
par3cular
in
the
digital
environment.”
However,
”reasonable
por3on”
“no
conflict
with
normal
exploita3on”
“not
unreasonable
prejudice
the
legi3mate
interests
of
the
rights
holder”
“no
direct
or
indirect
commercial
advantage”

33. <the digital environment>

34. Why is digital different?

35. ü unlimited number of
copies
ü virtually
instantaneously
ü no loss of quality
ü easy to modify
ü easy to distribute
ü distribution of copies
around the world in
seconds
ü new search and linking
capabilities
ü Sometimes no human
author
ü “multimedia” works

36. … one example:
And our old laws are ill-equipped to deal with these changes

37. S12 General exceptions from protection of literary and musical works
(1) Copyright shall not be infringed by any fair dealing with a literary
or musical work-
(a) for the purposes of research or private study by, or the
personal or private use of, the person using the work;
(b)for the purposes of criticism or review of that work or of another
work; or
(c) for the purpose of reporting current events-
[…]
S17 General exceptions regarding protection of sound recordings
The provisions of section 12 (1) (b) and (c), (2), (3), (4), (5), (12)
and (13) shall mutatis mutandis apply with reference to sound
recordings.

38. And copying became much easier

39. <new approaches and open licensing>

40. Academic content is
increasingly becoming
unaffordable

41. Open Access & Open Educational
Resources (OERs) as legal approaches to
overcome some of the problems for access to
and (re-)use of knowledge material

42. To make learning materials more
accessible, affordable and re-useable

43. Open
educa&onal
resources
are
educa&onal
materials
and
resources
offered
freely
and
openly
for
anyone
to
use
and
under
some
open
licenses
to
re-­‐mix,
improve
and
redistribute,
including
learning
content.

44. Open
Access
is
the
prac3ce
of
providing
unrestricted
access
via
the
Internet
to
peer-­‐reviewed
scholarly
journal
ar&cles.
Open
Access
is
also
increasingly
being
provided
to
theses,
scholarly
monographs
and
book
chapters.

45. {author
fees
–
paid
by
libraries?}
Business
model???

46. A
few
examples…

51. …
calls
on
governments
worldwide
to
openly
license
publicly
funded
educa3onal
materials
for
public
use.

52. But
to
make
all
this
work
legally
you
need
open
licences!

53. Default & automatic All Rights Reserved situation
Remember?

54. One of the most widely used system of open licences:

55. Creative Commons provides free licences that make it
easier for people:
to disseminate their works and
share and build upon the work of others
consistent with the rules of copyright.

56. A set of pre-formulated licences

58. More than 500 million CC licensed works on the
Internet

59. If you are looking for CC licensed material created by
others, …

62. Or look out for a symbol like this:

65. If you want to distribute your material
under a CC licence, ….

67. Or: go to
www.creativecommons.org

68. And follow the instructions on the website to attach the
chosen licence to your work.

69. Thank you!
my email address is:
tobias.schonwetter@uct.ac.za

70. Creative Commons Licence
This presentation is the work of Dr Tobias Schonwetter.
It is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 South Africa License.
To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/za/
or send a letter to:
Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View,
California, 94041, USA.