Do you want to (re)use material from others for your own work? Then you are dealing with copyrights. What are copyrights? When do you encounter them, and how should you handle them?
What is copyright exactly?
Copyright arises automatically. It doesn’t matter whether you create something as an amateur or a professional, and you don’t need to mention anything about it. If a work is copyrighted, you cannot copy, publish, or modify it without the permission of the copyright holder.
This also applies to material you find online and recordings you make of, for example, music pieces, dance performances, or theater productions.
If you want to know more about copyrights, read the article What is copyright? (opens in new tab)
When do I deal with copyrights?
In principle, you always deal with copyrights if you want to use material from others for your own project. This could be, for example, developing digital teaching materials for education, making an archive accessible, or creating a new production based on old work.
Exceptions
In some cases, you can use the work of others without their permission, despite existing copyrights.
The Copyright Act mentions several exceptions, such as:
- Quotation right: you may use short text excerpts, images, and even music fragments if this is done to illustrate your own story. There must be a substantive link, and the quote may only form a small part of the whole. It is also required that you mention the original source (name of the creator).
- Parody and caricature: as a creator, you may ‘play’ with the work of others if this is done with ‘humorous intentions.’ What this exactly entails strongly depends on the context in which you parody the existing work.
- Educational exception: in the classroom, you may use portions of a work without asking the rights holders for permission: you may, for example, play music or show images. The educational exception is only for teachers and students, not for cultural institutions. Moreover, educational institutions must purchase the educational exception. As a creator of (digital) teaching materials for education, you still have to deal with copyrights.
- Closed networks: heritage institutions (archives, libraries, museums) may make copyrighted works from their own collection available online within a closed computer network, within the organization's walls.
Fair reuse
If you want to (re)use the work of others, you must either ensure that you have permission or ensure that the use falls under one of the exceptions. But there are other ways for smart reuse:
Creative Commons licenses
Some creators make their work available for use by others. This is determined, for example, through a Creative Commons license. Want to know more about this? Read the article: Share and Create: Discover the Power of Creative Commons (opens in new tab)
Public domain
In the Netherlands (and in many other countries), copyright generally expires 70 years after the creator's death. Once all rights have expired, a creative expression becomes part of the public domain. Works in the public domain can be used freely.
Are you creating material yourself? Make it easy for others
Want to save others the hassle? Immediately clarify the copyright status of the material you develop yourself. You can easily do this with a Creative Commons license. This way, others know how they can use your work. Also, think about the online life of your work and make this part of your creation process.
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