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Get it right!

Copy­right

As a student or employee at Aalborg University (AAU), you are in touch with many different types of media. All of these are comprised by the copyright act. This page provides you with important information regarding those elements of copyright law that you - as an affiliate of AAU - should know about before you use texts, pictures, film, or any other type of media .

Copyright
Ask the Copyright team

Get it right!

Copy­right

As a student or employee at Aalborg University (AAU), you are in touch with many different types of media. All of these are comprised by the copyright act. This page provides you with important information regarding those elements of copyright law that you - as an affiliate of AAU - should know about before you use texts, pictures, film, or any other type of media .

Ask the Copyright team
Copyright

What am I permitted to do with ...?

Copyright fact box

You automatically become copyright holder to your own work

Copyright law automatically protects the individual’s copyright, whenever you create an original, literary, or artistic work. Thus, you do not need to claim your copyright. It is not until someone violates your copyright - i.e. uses your work for purposes to which you cannot give your consent - that you must claim your right to determine what happens with your work.

You do not always need permission before using a work

There are a number of situations where it is permitted to use and share copyrighted material without asking first. For instance, you are permitted to quote books etc., as Aalborg University has signed an agreement with Copydan, who manages the rights of artists and writers, as well as film-, television- and music producers, publishers and newspapers.

Electronic materials, such as e.g. e-books, electronic articles, databases etc., which are made available by the university library, are governed by license agreements with publishers and suppliers, and thereby subject to special rules regarding use and distribution. You can read more about this under the heading “Electronic texts”.

Copyright and creativity

Copyright law has influence on your use of the material of others. Sometimes these laws may seem counter-productive considering the daily conduct and possibilities on the Internet, social media etc, because they enable us to share all sorts of things without permission.

Copyright and plagiarism

Plagiarism is using someone else's text, idea, setup or similar, as if it was your own. Therefore, it is of great importance to quote properly and correctly, and to make the origins of the content clear to the reader. On the university’s "Plagiarism" webpage, you can read more about the topic, and see whom you should contact for further questions.

Basically, copyright means that the author of a work is the only person who is permitted to do certain things with it.

Professor in copyrights Morten Rosenmeier, University of Copenhagen