Office of the Queen's Printer for Scotland
Last Updated: 30/05/2008
2.1 Information listed in Publication Schemes, which can be disclosed under the Act, will be subject to copyright protection. The supply of documents under the Act does not give the person who receives the information an automatic right to re-use the documents without obtaining the consent of the copyright holder. Permission to re-use copyright information is generally granted in the form of a licence. In the case of copyright works made by officials in central government and other Crown bodies in Scotland, the legal responsibility as copyright holder rests with the Queen’s Printer for Scotland.
2.2 Chapter III of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 88) sets out circumstances when copyright material can be reproduced without infringing copyright. These are generally referred to as the fair dealing provisions. Under fair dealing, copyright material can be reproduced for the purposes of:
Chapter III of the CDPA 88 also sets out the special arrangements that apply for copying copyright material for educational use and for copying by libraries and archives. Further information on fair dealing and other exceptions to the copyright procedures can be found on the Patent Office website at: www.intellectual-property.gov.uk/copyright.exceptions. It is always advisable to check that the re-use of copyright material is allowed. If in doubt consult OQPS Licensing: licensing@oqps.gov.uk.
2.3 Copyright works produced by any office holder or member of staff of the Scottish Administration and other Scottish Crown bodies qualify for Crown copyright protection under section 163 of the CDPA 88. The Queen’s Printer for Scotland has responsibility for the administration and licensing of Crown copyright in works of the Scottish administration. Various categories of Crown copyright material can be re-used without a formal licence provided that the material is acknowledged, reproduced accurately and not in a misleading context. The OQPS and HMSO websites detail the categories of Crown copyright material where this applies, including examples of information where the copyright has been asserted but waived. This includes press releases, legislation, ministerial speeches, consultation documents, documents featured on official websites (except where expressly indicated otherwise), headline statistics and unpublished public records. Further details are available from the Guidance Notes.
2.4 At Annex A, you will find sample wording that can be used and adapted to explain:
1.5 OQPS also arranges for the publication of the Edinburgh Gazette and details will be featured in the OQPS’s Publication Scheme. Organisations should refer, in their Publication Schemes, to the categories of individual notices that are submitted for publication in the Gazette.
While the Act deals with all public authorities, it is important to remember that OQPS’s responsibility extends only to those Scottish Crown bodies that produce information that is protected by Crown copyright. The advice within this paper is primarily aimed at these organisations. However, non-Crown bodies may, if they wish, adapt the wording for their own use and an example of how this can be done is also included at Annex A.
2.5 The Publication Scheme should feature an appropriate copyright notice such as those provided at Annex A. More detailed guidance on copyright notices for Crown bodies can be found on the OPSI website - Guidance Note No 12. Non-Crown bodies may wish to adapt the notices to meet their own specific needs.
2.6 Not all information listed in Publication Schemes will necessarily be owned by the public authority which produced the Scheme. It will, therefore, help users if any such material is identified together with details of who owns the copyright, where known.
2.7 Most information falling within the scope of the Act is likely to be protected by copyright. It is conceivable, however, that some of the information supplied under the terms of the Act could involve other forms of intellectual property, e.g. patents and trademarks. The re-use of these forms of IPR would also require the permission of the rightsholder. Information on IPR generally can be found on the Patent Office website at: www.intellectual-property.gov.uk or if in doubt consult OQPS Licensing: licensing@oqps.gov.uk.