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Copyright

Teaching & Copyright

In general you can make and share analogue and digital copies of materials produced by others. A few things for you as a teacher to be aware of:

What can I use in my teaching?

Printed material

Usually you have to follow the Bonus Copyright Access Agreement, according to which it's ok to copy and share printed materials as long as you:

  • share the copies on Canvas, by e-mail with Chalmers students or employees, by presenting them in class or by distributing them as printed hand-outs;
  • follow the 15/15 rule (you may copy, download and distribute 15 pages, but not more than 15% of the total number of pages per student per calendar half-year) & consider exceptions that apply for mandatory course literature if that is what you want to share;
  • include name and source of the copied material on or in conjunction with the copy.

Online material

You are always allowed to link to online papers, reports, e-books, etc. However, if you wish to make copies of online materials, like distributing printed copies or uploading PDFs to Canvas, remember to always:

  • check what license applies;
  • if the material is included in any of the databases Chalmers Library subscribes to, please check the database's Terms of Use;
  • if there are no licenses or agreements that apply, follow the Bonus Copyright Access Agreement. You are allowed to copy material corresponding to 15 A4 pages from one and the same digital publication per student per calendar half-year (the 15/15 rule) & consider exceptions that apply for mandatory course literature if that is what you want to share;
  • include name and source of the copied material on or in conjunction with the copy.

Images (photos, illustrations, figures, tables, diagrams, etc.)

You can find materials for reuse on the web. Whenever you find an image online, double check if it has a license as well as the license terms that apply. For instance, it might be one of Creative Commons licenses that allows for reuse. Images are also covered by the Bonus Copyright Access Agreement, so if no other license applies, it is ok to share and copy the image with your students as long as you follow the Bonus agreement.


Videos and audio

Videos and audio are not covered by the Bonus Copyright Access Agreement. 

You are always allowed to link to materials that are already available online. You can also embed media on a page since it is equated with linking to the media. However, most often you are not permitted to play a video or audio during a lecture. 

In Sweden a university lecture is considered to be a public gathering. Sharing media with public is seen as production of an additional copy of the material. Therefore, if you want to show a video during a lecture, you need to ask for permission or find a video that has a license that allows for such use. For example, to find Youtube videos that are ok to show during a lecture, go to Youtube, do a search, open search filters by clicking the "Filters" button and under "Features" select "Creative Commons". Now only videos that are licensed under Creative Commons will be displayed in your search results and you may use them as long as you follow the license terms.

How do I link to an e-book from the Chalmers Library collections?

To allow yourself and other Chalmers students and employees to open an e-book off campus, you need to make sure that the link contains information about the library proxy. If proxy.lib.chalmers.se is not already there, please add http://proxy.lib.chalmers.se/login?url= to the beginning of the link.

The link can look like this:
http://proxy.lib.chalmers.se/login?url=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/book/9780240814711

Links to Ebook Central and VLeBooks are exceptions, they do not contain any proxy information.

What if I find material that is not covered by the existing licences or agreements?

In case a material you found is not covered by licenses or agreements in place, you have to ask for permission. Contact the publishers of the work to get further guidance. After you have received permission, make sure to save it in writing. 

How can I apply Creative Commons licenses to my own material?

You can apply a CC-license to your own materials as well as set a CC-license for a whole Canvas course. Note that if you apply a CC-license to your own materials, you cannot include others' copyright-protected material.

Who owns copyright to AI-generated images?

Who owns rights to my teaching materials?

You as a teacher always keep the moral right to your own teaching materials (for example, Powerpoints, lecture materials, recorded lectures, exams, quizzes, etc.). However, you must share them with Chalmers as it has the access right to all teaching materials you have produced during your employment. Chalmers can then reuse them to the extent that could be foreseen at the time the materials were created. You may use your materials for teaching at other universities, or, for instance, publish them as a course book, but you must then make sure that Chalmers still keeps the access right. You can read more in the Regulatory document C2011-1065 on Chalmers Intranet (for Chalmers Staff only, in Swedish).