Obtaining a licence from a copyright owner

If you want to use a work that is under copyright, it is likely that you will need to approach the copyright owner in order to obtain a licence. However, there are certain exceptions to copyright that can allow you to use a limited amount of the work.

These are some forms of licences that you be able to obtain from the right holder:

Exclusive licence

An exclusive licence could be granted, but remember that this enables the licensee to use the copyright work to the exclusion of all others, including the copyright owner. Any licence agreed can relate to one or more of the economic rights and can also be limited in time or any other way. It is a contractual agreement between the copyright owner and user.

Implied licence

Copyright work is subject to an implied licence even when there has been no agreement about a licence.

Limited use licence

Often a copyright owner will only give permission for some uses of a work, for example, publication of a photograph in a particular newspaper, and if you want to use the work in any other way, for example, by publishing the photograph in a magazine, you will need to seek further permission.

Collecting Societies

In some situations, copyright owners find it difficult to license use of their works by themselves and so they have formed organisations, called collecting societies or collective licensing bodies. Further information on collecting societies is available.