Copyright and Data Collection Policies

Copyright Policy

The Centre will not produce an app unless its content is, to the best of our knowledge and understanding, fully copyright compliant, and offered to students free of charge. To assure this:

  • The app’s author must provide complete references to all copyright protected content, including the copyright holder. We will include this information in the ‘credits’ window of the app, e.g. ‘Beethoven excerpt by Alfred Brendel with the Chicago Symphony © 1997 Philips Classics’.
  • A password is REQUIRED if any copyright protected content is not by the author, and no permission has been given by the copyright holder(s). We suggest using the course number as a password.
  • A password is OPTIONAL if all content belongs to the author, and/or the author has been given permission to use this content for such purposes.
  • The amount of copyright-protected material should be appropriate for the transformative purpose intended (see below).

General Information on Fair Use / Fair Dealing

As guidelines, the following three questions, suggested by experts, should be considered:
  • Is the use you want to make of another’s work transformative — that is, does it add value to and repurpose the work for a new audience?
    [An app could easily be made and interpreted as ‘transformative’]
  • Is the amount of material you want to use appropriate to achieve your transformative purpose?
    [Use excerpts as much as possible, not entire works]
    – The Center for Social Media and Washington, School of Law at American University
  • Am I using the work in such a manner that is, or has the potential of, diverting income from the creator.
    – Curriculum, Technology, and Education Reform (CTER), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Copyright Laws

Copyright laws are often shades of grey. These guidelines may be helpful.

So what are the chances you’ll find yourself in court? Pretty slim — although they increase dramatically if your use of a work interferes with the owner’s potential income. Most copyright owners don’t want to take teachers or school systems to court. They just want to stop the copyright infringement. If you make a mistake in good faith and you’re asked to stop using a particular work, do so immediately. – Linda Starr Education World

Fine Print – Annotated Full-Text from Relevant Hong Kong Ordinances

CAP 528 COPYRIGHT ORDINANCE s 41A Fair dealing for purposes of giving or receiving
instruction – Education
  1. Fair dealing with a work by or on behalf of a teacher or by a pupil for the purposes of giving OR receiving instruction in a specified course of study provided by an educational establishment does not infringe the copyright in the work or, in the case of a published edition, in the typographical arrangement.
  2. In determining whether any dealing with a work is fair dealing under subsection (1), the court shall take into account all the circumstances of the case and, in particular-
    • the purpose and nature of the dealing, including whether the dealing is for a non profit-making purpose and whether the dealing is of a commercial nature [Use should be transformative and not very close to the original];
    • the nature of the work [is it imaginative and unpublished (bad) or published facts (good)];
    • the amount and substantiality of the portion dealt with in relation to the work as a whole [is it a small amount (e.g. a book chapter – roughly 10% of something, an article from a periodical, a musical excerpt, etc.), or is it more than needed to accomplish the transformative purpose (e.g. an entire book, an entire work or movement]; and
    • the effect of the dealing on the potential market for or value of the work [if this kind of use were widespread, what effect would it have on the market for the original?].
  3. Where any dealing with a work involves the inclusion of any passage or excerpt from a published literary or dramatic work in an anthology-
    • if the inclusion is not accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement, the dealing is not fair dealing under subsection (1); and
    • if the inclusion is accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement, subsection (2) applies in determining whether the dealing is fair dealing under subsection (1).
  4. Where any dealing with a work involves the making of a recording of a broadcast or cable programme or a copy of such a recording-
    • if an acknowledgement of authorship or other creative effort contained in the work recorded is not incorporated in the recording, the dealing is not fair dealing under subsection (1); and
    • if an acknowledgement of authorship or other creative effort contained in the work recorded is incorporated in the recording, subsection (2) applies in determining whether the dealing is fair dealing under subsection (1).
  5. Where any dealing with a work involves the making available of copies of the work through a wire or wireless network wholly or partly controlled by an educational establishment-
    • if the educational establishment fails to –
      a. adopt technological measures to restrict access to the copies of the work through the network so that the copies of the work are made available only to persons who need to use the copies of the work for the purposes of giving or receiving instruction in the specified course of study in question or for the purposes of maintaining or managing the network; or
      b. ensure that the copies of the work are not stored in the network for a period longer than is necessary for the purposes of giving or receiving instruction in the specified course of study in question or, in any event, for a period longer than 12 consecutive months, the dealing is not fair dealing under subsection (1); and
    • if the educational establishment –
      a. adopts technological measures to restrict access to the copies of the work through the network so that the copies of the work are made available only to persons who need to use the copies of the work for the purposes of giving or receiving instruction in the specified course of study in question or for the purposes of maintaining or managing the network; and
      b. ensures that the copies of the work are not stored in the network for a period longer than is necessary for the purposes of giving or receiving instruction in the specified course of study in question or, in any event, for a period longer than 12 consecutive months, subsection (2) applies in determining whether the dealing is fair dealing under subsection (1)
  6. Without affecting the generality of section 37(5), where any dealing with a work involves the making of reprographic copies, the fact that the making of the copies does not fall within section 45 does not mean that it is not covered by this section, and subsection (2) applies in determining whether the dealing is fair dealing under subsection (1).
  7. Where a copy which apart from this section would be an infringing copy is made in accordance with this section but is subsequently dealt with, it is to be treated as an infringing copy-
    • for the purpose of that dealing; and
    • if that dealing infringes copyright, for all subsequent purposes.
  8. In subsection (7), “dealt with” (被用以進行交易) means sold, let for hire, or offered or exposed for sale or hire.

(Added 15 of 2007 s. 14)
Source