This SCORE case study undertook to develop copyright and policy licensing especially in relation to embedding third-party rights in teaching materials and Open Educational Resources (OER). A very great deal is already known about working with copyright; however the increase in use of OER has highlighted an overall lack of institutional awareness of the rules and also in some places the necessity for institutions to assert control over their intellectual property (IP). It is no wonder. The 'transaction costs' of adhering to third-party copyright requirements are high legal advice is impractical and the complexity of a 'case by case' basis places the understanding of exactly what someone is supposed to do almost beyond the comprehension of everyday teaching and research staff.
Here we sought to review the literature and find ways to simplify the rules for using third-party published works by staff and students in HE institutions making more explicit exactly what they should do and therefore better able to inform senior managers. It also proposed the development of a technology that is urgently needed to aid discovery of licensed works and seek permissions with lower transaction costs/fast responses and stretched the thinking of colleagues in the academic and commercial sectors alike.
These case studies were created by SCORE (Support Centre for Open Resources in Education) fellows as part of the joint HEA / JISC Open Educational Resources study; pedagogical development from OER practice.
