Copyright: Re-use of public sector information
The Government has passed a law governing the re-use of public
sector information, called the Re-use of Public Sector
Information Regulations 2005.
The regulations came into force on 1 July 2005. They encourage
the re-use of public sector information – that is, information in
which public authorities listed in the regulations hold the
copyright.
Copyright is effectively a right to prevent copying of original
material. It can be “infringed” by making copies, publishing and
issuing copies of copyright material to the public, or to any other
person, without permission.
Information released by the council
Most of the information that we provide in response to Freedom
of Information Act 2000 requests will be subject to copyright
protection. In most cases the copyright will be owned by London
Borough of Tower Hamlets. The copyright in other information may be
owned by another person or organisation, as indicated in the
information itself.
You are free to use any information supplied for your own use,
including for non-commercial research purposes. The information may
also be used for the purposes of news reporting.
However, any other type of re-use, for example, by publishing
the information or issuing copies to the public will require the
permission of the copyright owner.
For information where the copyright is owned by another person
or organisation, you must apply to the copyright owner to obtain
their permission.
What is meant by re-use?
When we release information to you which you have requested
under access to information legislation (such as the Freedom of
Information Act), you may ask if you can re-use the information,
perhaps for commercial purposes. Without the necessary permission,
you can breach our copyright. It is this situation with which the
regulations are concerned.
Nothing in the regulations affects rights of access under other
legislation, such as Freedom of Information.
What are the basics of the regulations?
We are not obliged under the regulations to make public sector
information available for re-use, but if we do so, it must be done
in accordance with the regulations. In these circumstances, the
regulations place the following obligations on us:
- We have 20 working days in which to respond to a request for
re-use. This period may be extended where the request is extensive
or complex
- A licence fee can be issued if we do not wish re-use to be
free
- A licence must not restrict competition
- Exclusive licensing arrangements will not be allowed, except
for the provision of a service in the public interest. Such
arrangements will be published
- We should make available to the public our conditions for
re-use and any standard charges for re-use
- Information for re-use should be made available electronically
where possible and appropriate
- We must not discriminate between applicants making requests for
re-use for comparable purposes.
Copyright
The regulations do not affect our copyright. The supply of
documents and information to you by us (for example under Freedom
of Information and on our website) does not give you a right to
re-use them in a way that would infringe that copyright.
Brief extracts of any material may be reproduced without our
permission, under the “fair dealing” provisions of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988; for the purposes of research for
non-commercial purposes; private study; criticism; review and news
reporting - all subject to an acknowledgement of ourselves as the
copyright owner. Wider re-use requires our permission. This applies
equally to any of the council’s logos.
We may choose to allow re-use under a licence, imposing
conditions on the re-use of the information to ensure it is not
used in a manner inconsistent with our copyright; and we may also
decide to charge a re-use fee.
Download a
re-use of information application form (Word 33k)
How to contact us
If you have any questions relating to copyright and re-use
please email: foi@towerhamlets.gov.uk
or you can contact:
The Information Governance Team
Town Hall
5 Clove Crescent
London E14 2BG
Tel: 020 7364 4354
Fax: 020 7364 4804
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