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Conducting Research Projects Guide: Copyright

Guidance is provided to students engaging in empirical research projects for internships and post-graduate study

An introduction to copyright

As a researcher, it is your responsibility to ensure you understand the limits on the use of other people's work covered by copyright law.  Copyright is very complex and can be a trap for new and existing researchers.  

For a work or type of material to qualify for copyright protection, four conditions must generally be met:

  1. It must fall within one of the categories or subject matter in which copyright can exist.
  2. It must be original.
  3. The nationality of the author, or the origin of the work, must be one that qualifies for protection.
  4. Certain works must be fixed either in writing or some other material form (MBIE, n.d.).

Copyright law allows for specified access to and use of any published work. 

  • Many copyrighted works are not permitted to be transmitted, shared or changed in any way (e.g. there are limits to showing some films in public or educational institutions). 
  • Other works may be permitted to be copied or used for a specific purpose (e.g. some articles may be photocopied for individual study, but not shared with others). 
  • Some of works have limits on the amount of the work that can be copied (e.g. one chapter or a certain percentage of a book may be copied for educational purposes, but the entire book cannot be copied unless it is out of print or out of copyright). 
  • Some works require you to request permission of the copyright holder before you use them. This may be the publisher or author(s).  

Publishers have different rules on the use of works in databases and libraries at tertiary institutions. 

  • Licensing agreements are very specific about the rules of use and vary from one publisher to another. 
  • You need to make sure you know what your access and copying limitations are. 
  • Check with one of the librarians to find out what you can and cannot do for particular publications.

Whilst it is essential that you always reference every source you use, this may not necessarily mean that you are covered in terms of copyright law. 

 

To access further information on this page, click on the quick links in the box below.

New Zealand copyright law and regulations

Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a particular kind of copyright that allows you to make use of other people work.  It may have some limitations, or it may be up to you how you use it.  The video below is a simple explanation of how creative commons works.

Resources from the library