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Copyright and licensing for research data

Your data management plan should include how you will manage copyright.

For copyright purposes, data compilations such as datasets and databases can be protected by copyright if it consists of words, figures or symbols, for example:

  • Tables
  • Spreadsheets
  • Field notes
  • Photographs, diagrams, or other artistic works
  • Sound recordings, film, video, musical works, and multimedia; and
  • Is either a literary work or has a degree of originality.

Who is the copyright owner?

Generally under copyright law the creator of the work, which may be two or more people (joint authors), is the copyright owner.

If the rights are retained and not assigned or transferred to a third party, as with a collaborative research project, publishing agreement, or employment contract, the copyright remains with the creator/s.

If the data has been produced in the course of your work, the University may be the copyright owner and you should refer to the University's Intellectual Property Procedure.

The copyright owner may determine if the data can be published, shared, or reused.

The protection of your data can be covered by the following:

Important first steps include determining whether the data is protected by copyright and then to consider whether you can apply a CC licence.

To make informed choices and create licences, further detailed information is available from:

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