Copyright Information

What can I copy?

1. With Permission: You can copy materials where the owner of the copyright has given permission to do so (e.g., Irish legislation, unreported judgments) and to the extent permitted.
2. Public Domain: You can copy material that is in the public domain, e.g., where the copyright has lapsed, generally 70 years after death of a personal author.
3. Judicial or Parliamentary Proceedings: You can copy anything for judicial or parliamentary proceedings.
4. Fair Dealing, you can copy under Fair Dealing:
   - for research or private study
   - for criticism or review (with acknowledgement).
   - for reporting current events (with acknowledgement - photographs are excluded from this exemption)

You may copy under these three exemptions for a purpose and to an extent which will not unreasonably prejudice the interests of the owner of the copyright.

Copying may be done by another person, on behalf of the person doing the research.

However:

• Librarians are constrained by the special provisions in the Act governing librarians.
• Any other person may not make a copy on behalf of someone else if the person knows or has reason to believe that the copying will result in copies of substantially the same material being provided to more than one person at approximately the same time and for substantially the same purpose. This is essentially a prohibition on multiple copies.

Irish Copyright Licensing Agency
In addition to the copying allowed under the Copyright and Related Act, a licensing scheme has been put in place for higher education institutions. The terms of the licence allow extended rights to copy in certain cases. See also User Guidelines 

Contact:
Please contact Director of Library & Information Services if you have any queries on copyright.

Links:

CONUL Copyright Guide 2024, Revised edition

Copyright and Related Rights Acts 2000 

Irish Copyright Licensing Agency (ICLA)