
Films, sound recordings and off air broadcasts
The existence and duration of copyright in films and sound recordings is discussed on previous pages. Additionally it may be possible to copy the films and sound recordings (without infringing copyright) by relying on a fair dealing exception and complying with the requisite conditions of that exception. For example, a lecturer can copy a film (which has been made available to the public) for the purposes of giving criticism and review of the film in a lecture to students, provided a suitable acknowledgment is given.
If a film or sound recording is broadcast then it can probably be copied (including digitisation) under the terms of the Educational Recording Agency (ERA+) Licence.
GCU holds a licence with the Educational Recording Agency (ERA) which permits the recording of most television and radio programmes for educational purposes. Staff members can make recordings through the Audio Visual Service, or at home. Please see Audio-Visual Service for more details. These recordings can be kept in departments or deposited in the library.
Recordings must be carried out in accordance with the terms of the ERA+ Licence which specifies:
- They must be for the non-commercial educational purposes
- They must not be edited or modified (although extracts may be recorded)
- They must be marked with the date of the recording, the title of the recording, the name of the broadcaster, and the following statement: 'This recording is to be used only under the terms of the ERA Licence'
- They should not be shown outside of the UK.
In addition copies of a broadcast recording may be made but not sold commercially and the details of any recordings made must be kept by the relevant department. Programmes made by the Open University are not covered by the ERA+ Licence.
Recordings made under the ERA+ Licence may be shown to registered students within the premises of an educational establishment or can be viewed via our virtual learning environment. This means that recordings made under the ERA+ Licence can be digitised and accessed via GCULearn, providing access is restricted to the UK. If you would like to add a recording to GCULearn, then contact the Digital Development team on infservdd@gcu.ac.uk
Please note that the ERA Licence only covers recordings made from broadcast TV and radio and not on-demand / catch up TV services such as the BBC iPlayer. You may include links from Blackboard to on-demand TV or radio, provided this is permitted by the terms of use of the service.
Content © Dr Jane Secker, LSE