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Open Educational Resources: Licensing & Copyright

A guide to Open Educational Resources (OER) - discover, adopt, adapt, or author free shareable educational content.

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University copyright

Under the University's Intellectual Property (IP) Policy, different type of works are treated (and owned) differently:

  • Course materials are generally owned by the University
  • Scholarly materials are generally owned by the creator.

With respect to OER, open textbooks would fall into the latter category.  Other materials may fall into the former, making licensing them more complex.

Copyright and permissions for reuse of materials

Most material you find will be copyright.  It's important to understand that just because something is made freely available online, it does not mean that you are able to take it and use it without permission.  Even materials that are open-licensed (see OER and licensing box on this page) will have requirements and/or restrictions for reuse.

CAUL have a useful page on permissions if you'd like to know more, or you can reach out to the Copyright Advisor here at the the University.

Looking for open-licensed resources?  Check out the Library page on open-licensed and other free resources (images, video audio).

Keeping copyright and licensing in mind

There are  some simple things you can do to stay on top of copyright when putting your OER together:

  • Create a spreadsheet with details of materials you plan to reuse in each chapter (include access links and any copyright/licensing information you see);
  • Where you want to reuse something that is 'all rights reserved' copyright, or requires a payment for reuse, consider replacing it with material that is open-licensed instead;
  • Seek any permissions for reuse early and in writing;
  • Seek help where needed.  The Copyright Advisor can assist with all of the above, including the final copyright check.

OER and open licensing

OER are able to function as open resources thanks to open licensing, such as that from Creative Commons.

Open licensing allows creators to take control of the copyright in their material, moving away from the standard ‘all rights reserved’ to ‘some rights reserved’.  They allow creators to choose the licensing conditions for their material, providing standardized permissions for users to share, re-use, and remix content.

Assigning an open licence

There may be multiple layers of licensing that apply to your OER:

  • As creator, you can choose the open licensing for your work;
  • Where you have adapted or made use of someone else's open-licensed materials, you will need to abide by the licensing on those works (including attribution and noting the licensing involved);
  • Where you have received permission to reuse 'all rights reserved' materials, you will need to make it clear that these are outside of the licence assigned to the rest of the work.

Seem complicated?  The Copyright Advisor can assist with this. CAUL also have a helpful page with sample licensing statements, or you can use the our Licensing Choices Tool (available under 'Applying CC licensing to your work').

Best practices for attribution

Open-licensed materials usually have a requirement to credit the source (known as 'attribution'), including the licensing involved and noting any changes made.

Creative Commons have a page for best practices for attribution when reusing or adapting open-licensed materials.