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Copyright overview

This page is part of the terms and conditions for using RNIB Bookshare UK education collection and should be read in conjunction with the information on the Legal page. With the exception of downloadable Items, the information on these web pages including guidance and training on this Website is published under Creative Commons and copyright © 2011 to 2024 RNIB.

Permissions

All Items are made available under one of three permission systems:

No property, copyright, or publication rights of any materials and resources shall pass to you on your use of this Website.

Each Item will be attributed copyright permissions to be observed which may restrict the types of print a disability user can access, the materials and the geographical region within which it can be used.

For detailed information on the use of materials produced under different copyright permissions please read the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) Guidance on changes to copyright law to implement the Marrakesh Directive (external link). 

Copyright and Related Rights (Marrakesh Treaty etc) (Amendment) Regulations 2018

The Marrakesh Treaty is an international legal instrument which aims to improve visually impaired and print disabled people's access to copyright works around the world. It does this by requiring its parties to provide exceptions to copyright allowing the making of accessible copies and the transfer of such copies across borders.

 The Copyright and Related Rights (Marrakesh Treaty etc.) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 were subsequently laid before Parliament and entered into force in the UK on 11 October 2018.

Accessible copies of copyright-protected works are permitted to be made, communicate,d made available, distributed and lended by organisations such as RNIB (or educational organisations) to disabled persons, or those acting on their behalf,  who have lawful access to a copyright protected work .

Publisher permission

Publishers can upload their Items onto RNIB Bookshare UK education collection granting permission for them to be shared with users with print-disabilities within specific regions for distribution. 

Further information can be found on our Publisher information page.

Copyright holder permission

Contributors may upload unpublished items provided they own the copyright in the item or have the required permission from the copyright holder.

No copyright protection

Copyright protection lasts for a fixed period of time. Once the protection has expired the relevant work is in the public domain and may be copied and distributed freely. In the event that any Items are in the public domain, users may upload and download such Items at will.

Prevention of copyright abuse

All resources contain embedded information which is traceable to an individual user account.

Any Items that are found to be shared or distributed in any way; including by email or on the internet will be actively traced back to the user who originally downloaded the Item. We may share details with the owner of the copyright and an appropriate legal response may be initiated.

Breach of copyright and permissions

Anyone found to be misusing or distributing resources from this Website will risk facing legal action from, but not restricted to, RNIB Bookshare UK education collection and the owner of the copyrighted work.

As such, the copyright owner is entitled to take legal action should illegitimate copies of their work be distributed by yourself or any third party, or should you be found otherwise in breach of the copyright owner's rights.

Information for publishers

All the material available on this Website has been created for users with print disabilities in the absence of suitable commercial editions being available. Please contact us if you believe an accessible commercial edition of content hosted on this Website is available and we will take steps to review and remove content from the Website where appropriate.