This guide is purposely drawn up for faculty staff at the University of Malta. It should clarify issues dealing with copyright considerations related to teaching, research and study activities and assist in understanding the Maltese Copyright Act of the Laws of Malta.
The information provided in this document is intended for guidance only and should not be relied upon as an authoritative statement of the law. The Library may be consulted for further information and direction.
1. Intellectual Property in general
The term Intellectual property (IP) in general refers to ‘creations of the mind’. In most cases, intellectual property legislation seeks to protect the expression of ideas, concepts and works. This intangible property that is the result of man’s creativity (such as inventions, trademarks or copyrights) may entitle the creator/author/copyright holder to a legal monopoly over such ideas, concepts and works. With an intellectual property right (IPR), you may prohibit someone from making use of your IP or otherwise authorize such use. The commercial exploitation of IP can manifest itself in various ways. A simple example is allowing someone to use your property in exchange for royalties or a license fee.
2. Copyright
Copyright is one of the categories of intellectual property (as defined above) whose main function is to protect the fruits of a person’s labor, skill or taste. The Copyright Act covers various topics, such as eligibility for copyright; copyright protection; expiry dates of copyright; works of government and international bodies; transfer and licensing of copyright; exclusive rights in copyright; exceptions to the mentioned exclusive rights; moral rights; neighbouring (related) rights to copyright; infringement of copyright.
Generally speaking, the ‘copyright holder’ is given the exclusive right to do certain acts and/or to prevent others from doing certain acts without (the copyright holder’s) consent.
More specifically, copyright grants the copyright holder the following exclusive rights:
Copyright covers the following works:
Generally speaking, copyright protection lasts throughout the life of the author and for an additional 70 years which commence from the end of year in which the author dies. In cases where the copyright holder is not a natural person or is unknown, it is calculated as expiring seventy years after the end of the year in which the work was made available to the public. Certain categories of works are subject to different rules.
As a rule, first ownership of copyright lies with the author or joint authors of the work. An exception to this rule does, however, exist in the case of computer programs and databases created in the course of the author’s employment, in which case first ownership of copyright resides with the employer unless otherwise agreed to by the parties. In all cases, the presumption of first ownership can be overridden by an agreement to the contrary.
As mentioned above in these Guidelines, in most cases copyright vests initially in the author (i.e. the creator) of the work. However it is crucial to determine who the copyright holder is before making use of any particular work. The reason for this is since copyright is fundamentally a property right which may be transferred or alienated by one person in favour of another. For example, you may have written a paper and been deemed by law to be the initial copyright holder (since you would be the author/creator). However if the material has been published you may have transferred your copyright to the publisher or editor of a journal in which your paper has been published (expressly), in which case you are no longer the copyright holder. It is also important to note that copyright equates to and includes a number of rights, as described above. Therefore, different persons or entities might own different rights on a particular work. For example, whilst an author of a literary work might enjoy most of the mentioned rights in copyright over his work, he might have assigned his communication to the public and/or his distribution right to a third party. Therefore, it is always crucial to seek permission from the rightful owner when making use of work which does not belong to you.
Moral rights include the right of the author not to have his work distorted or modified in any way to his prejudice, nor for his work to be attributed to anyone other than himself. Moral rights are distinct from copyright in one crucial sense: that whilst copyright may be transmitted, moral rights, as a general rule, cannot, and therefore remain with the original author even if copyright in the work has been transferred. Moral rights can only be transferred in the event of the death of the author usually by reference to the author’s last will. Where there is no such testamentary direction, moral rights are usually transferred to the person to whom copyright passes to.
There are certain limited instances where the copyright holder may not prohibit the use of the works in question. In these limited cases, no permission for use need be sought from the copyright holder.
A few examples of these exceptions
1. Private study and private use in general: Private study is work done by any person for their own personal or professional development (as long as there is no direct or indirect commercial purpose). Private study is work done by students for their courses, whether full time or on day release from their employer, provided the student’s employer does not receive any direct or indirect commercial advantage from the student’s work apart from his/her own professional and educational development. “Distance learning” is not excluded from this exception.
The Copyright Act allows persons to carry out acts of private use subject that this is limited to reproductions made of the copyrighted material. Therefore, no other exclusive right of copyright (see above for the list thereof) may be affected by the specific act of private study, in which case the advance permission in writing of the copyright owner is always required.
In addition, any such private use of a work needs to be accompanied by the payment to the copyright owner of adequate compensation. Therefore, in all cases where this exception is to be invoked, it is advisable for the University to be consulted given that there may be financial and monetary considerations that would need to be discussed.
2. Non-commercial research:
As a general rule, the reproduction of a copyrighted work must be carried out strictly for the purposes of illustration in teaching and scientific research, and not for any direct or indirect commercial advantage.
The following types of research are examples of activities that are not permitted at law:
If only for browsing purposes, all material can be viewed by the individual.
If the same material is being copied by/for a group of users, for example when a number of students taking the same module copy a book chapter listed as core reading on a module reading list, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder, see Copyright Guidelines FAQs.