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Steve Welburn, 2012-09-26 08:47 AM
Legislation¶
There are three main areas of law affecting data management:- Intellectual Property (in particular copyright)
- Data Protection
- Freedom of Information
Copyright
Data Protection
Freedom Of information
Copyright¶
Copyright grants the copyright holder rights relating to the use of the copyright material, in addition certain moral rights are granted to the creator of the materials. Copyright is automatically granted when new creative material is produced - e.g. the material must be more than a simple collection of other data. Copyright is a separate item of property to original work and the sale of the original work does not automatically pass copyright on to the new owner of that work (e.g. selling a score or painting does not automatically transfer the copyright). The particular rights and the duration of the copyright period are affected by the type of material.
For audio and digital music research, rights of particular interest relate to:- musical compositions and audio recordings - a CD can be covered by three separate copyrights, one for the design of the packaging, one for the sound recording on the CD and one for the musical composition recorded
- typographical arrangements - these cover not only papers (which are also covered as literary works) but also the layout of spreadsheets and design of databases.
It is important to note that copyright does not cover the ideas expressed within a work, only the particular form that that work has been captured in. The data within a spreadsheet is not copyright, only the particular layout of that data.
We note that simple anthologies - e.g. a collection of "complete works" or works created during a certain period - do not get copyright on the content, although the typographical layout may be copyright.
Database rights¶
The Copyright and Rights in Databases Regulations 1997
UK database rights information at out-law.com
UK database rights at the UK Intellectual Property Office
UK¶
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
Fair dealing / fair use- doesn't apply to sound recordings, films and broadcasts
- JISC Guidelines for Fair Dealing in an Electronic Environment
- use in education in training or for personal study
- must be copies from originals
Lots of fact sheets at The UK Copyright Service
Includes the Top 10 Copyright Myths
UK Intellectual Property Office has a page on copyright including a downloadable booklet.
UK university materials regarding copyright and intellectual property:Pay The Piper has a post explaining music copyright
If you compose a completely original piece of music then it is your own property - you own the copyright, in other words.
Arranging existing music is fraught with difficulties. To put it very simply (and this is indeed a gross simplification) until the composer has been dead for seventy years his music is copyright and you may not make a written arrangement of it without permission.
...lots more good info on the page
Music Publishers Association - MPA
Performing Rights Society - PRS
PRS - Performing Rights Society - FAQ, includes details on copyright
Abroad¶
Australian IP law blog posts re. media and copyright. Includes:- Digital music technology and copyright timeline
- Are adaptations of copyright work legal?
- Music formats and law: commercialisation of 45-rpm records
- Creative Commons licences are useful but oversold
- What makes a derivative work
derivative must use enough of the prior work that the average person would conclude that it had been based on or adapted from the prior work - Compilations
compilations are (c) if they show minimal creativity (e.g. not just all works by someone or by date) - Copyright Renewal
Many works did not have copyright renewed and therefore went out of copyright and into the public domain in the US - estimated 15% of works had copyright renewed. Renewals will appear in the online US copyright database for works from 1950-1963,
CHM Super Sound (a South Pacific record company) state that :
A melodic phrase of a song is in copyright. The lyrics are in copyright. Chord progressions in a music composition however, are not copyright material.
University of Washington Copyright Connection
WIPO Understanding Copyright and Related Rights
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
Chord Progressions and Copyright:Data Protection¶
Data protection protects the rights of individuals over their personal information, particularly data should only be used for the purposes for which it has been gathered and should be held appropriately securely.
QMUL Academic Registry and Council Secretariat (ARCS) information on data protection
JISC Data Protection Code of Practice for HE and FE
Freedom Of Information¶
Freedom Of Information Act 2000
Freedom of information gives people the right to request data held by public bodies - it is not a question of who originated the data, rather a question of who holds it.
QMUL information on Freedom of Information
QMUL slides for a presentation on Data Protection, Freedom of Information and Research
States that for research:- Data can be held indefinitely
- Is not subject to FoI requests - unless individuals identified in published research
- Can be used for other research uses
- May be exempt from FoI requests on grounds of future publication or commercial interest
- Provision of data under FoI does not affect the copyright of the material - uses of the supplied material must still comply with IPR
Freedom Of Information¶
The Freedom Of Information Act (FoI) gives people the right to request data held by public bodies. It does not matter where the data originated, only who holds it. Copyright relating to information supplied under FoI requests remains unchanged - and provides you with protection from other people (mis)using your data.
The Freedom of Information Act states that research data:- can be held indefinitely;
- is not subject to FoI requests unless individuals are identified in published research;
- can be used for other research uses;
- and may be exempt from FoI requests on grounds of (imminent) future publication or commercial interest.
Note that this means that if a researcher from another institution published research identifying individuals and you use their data, then individuals will have the right to request the data from QMUL.
Additionally, if data will be published through the college's normal publication scheme, then there is no onus on the college to provide the data under FoI requests - publishing data removes any additional requirements for FoI.
Further information:- QMUL information on Freedom of Information
- QMUL slides for a presentation on Data Protection, Freedom of Information and Research
- JISC information on freedom of information and research data