Copyright
Copyright is a protection of the forms and expressions of an idea. A work is copyrighted if it is sufficiently original, meaning that the work must be an independently achieved and original result of the author’s own creative process. The copyright will always be assigned to a physical person and apply without registration. It is valid regardless of form of the work. The copyright protection does not cover ideas, information or facts.
When does copyright apply?
Copyright arises automatically if:
- The work is new, which means that it differs from earlier work.
- The work is not too small.
- The work has what is called a threshold of originality.
Creative commons
Creative commons (CC) licenses are used to clarify under what terms creators wish to release their work, and describe under what circumstances it is allowed to be used, built upon or shared by others. In short there are four different licenses that can be combined with each other: CC-BY, CC-SA, CC-ND and CC-NC.
The most common license is CC-BY. This license means that the copyright belong with the author/authors, and that you as an author allow others the right to freely use, build upon or share your article, under the condition that you are assigned as the author/authors.
About CC-licenses at the Creative Commons webpage
Creative Commons for researchers (the National Library of Sweden)
Copying and sharing for teaching purposes
There is often a need for a lot of copying for teaching purposes. Therefore, there is a special agreement (the copying agreement) between the University and the organisation Bonus Copyright Access. Read more about copying for teaching purposes and Bonus Copyright Access here:
About Bonus - Bonus Copyright Access
Copyright, publication and reproduction on Lund University Staff pages
Finding and reusing images
According to the Swedish Copyright Act (1960:729), artistic works, such as images, illustrations, photographs, and works of art are automatically protected until 70 years have passed after the death of its creator. The law states that the creator has both a right to economic compensation, and a moral right to always be given credit if his/her work is used. If you wish to use a work that has been created by someone else in, for example your presentation, publication, or teaching session, please note that you often have an obligation to get the copyright holder’s permission first. Depending on the type of work and what usage is intended, different rules may apply. For example, The Swedish Copyright Act makes certain allowances for scholarly texts.
The Libraries of the Joint Faculties of Humanities and Theology at Lund University have extensive and useful information on their webpage about finding and reusing images:
There are many possibilities to find images that can be used without permission, here are a few examples:
Copyright
Read more about copyright on the University Library's page