Intellectual Property (IP) refers to "intangible property that is the result of creativity", such as trademarks, patents, copyrights, etc. In Hong Kong, a body of intellectual property laws has been developed by Intellectual Property Department (IPD) to protect the creativity of different types of properties. In PolyU, Research and Innovation Office (RIO) (formerly Innovation and Technology Development Office (ITDO)) is the key body that manages and protects the University’s intellectual property portfolio.
Copyright is a legal right given to the owner of an original creative work, including books, journal articles, images, computer programming codes, music, films, etc. It grants the copyright owner (with a limited number of years) a set of exclusive rights, including:
Under Hong Kong's Copyright Ordinance (Cap. 528), it is not necessary to register a copyright in Hong Kong - works are protected by copyright automatically at the time of their creation. Copyright can be assigned or transferred to another party, e.g. the author can transfer the copyright to the publisher.
The University considers the protection of intellectual property (including copyright) a serious matter. Copying of copyrighted materials, without the license of copyright owner, may be regarded as a statutory offense. Inclusion of copyrighted materials in research work, if not considered as fair dealing, will require prior permission from the copyright owner.
Infringement = without the copyright owner's permission
Permission 授權 |
Purpose 目的 |
Proportion 程度 |
|---|---|---|
|
Obtain permission through:
|
Cap 528, Sec. 38-88 e.g. fair dealing for research & private study (Sec. 38), |
not substantial (consider not just quantity, but also quality) |
Source: Alice Lee's talk on 27 May 2022 (Intellectual Property Forum GBA 2022 @HKBU)
Fair dealing is an exemption of copyright, which aims to help teachers and students to make reasonable use of copyrighted works for teaching and learning, research or private study purposes without infringing copyright (Hong Kong's Copyright Ordinance Cap. 528, Sec. 38). To determine whether an act of dealing is fair, the following 4 factors will be considered:
E.g.:
A student quotes a short quotation from a journal article in his thesis work can be considered as fair dealing;
A student reuses a table or image from a journal article in his thesis work will not be considered as fair dealing and therefore the student needs to obtain permission from the copyright owner (usually the publisher).
Note: Fair dealing copyright exceptions have been expanded by the Amendment Ordinance 2022, allowing fair dealing of copyright works for the following purposes:
Also see "Revised and new copyright exceptions".
Inclusion of copyrighted materials in research work, if not considered as fair dealing, will require prior permission from the copyright owner.
Obtaining permission is a process of getting consent from a copyright owner to use the owner's creative works. It's often called "licensing" - when you have permission, you have a license to use the work.
Step 1. Check who owns the copyright of the material
The author of a work is the copyright owner; for works that are created in the course of employment, the owner is usually the employer. The table below lists the copyright owner for different types of works.
| Type of work | Copyright owner |
|---|---|
| Book, book chapter | Usually the Author; you can find the copyright information from the back of the title page of a book, e.g. © Sam Smith 2014 |
| Journal article, conference paper |
Usually the Publisher, unless the work is published in open access (where authors retain the copyright) |
| Image, photo | Usually the photographer or the image creator |
| Other works | Check with the website owner or publisher and ask about the details about the copyright owner |
For PolyU students and staff, the details of copyright issues of a research work (e.g. journal publications, thesis) are stated in PolyU Staff Handbook - Intellectual Property (4.5 Copyright) and PolyU Research Student Handbook (23.2.2 Intellectual Property). Do note that the copyright of the journal publication may be transferred to the Publisher upon publication. You may refer to Copyright Transfer on Published Works for more information. As the Intellectual Property conditions of each research work may be different, it is always good to check with your supervisor on how to deal with copyright transfer of your research work whenever in doubt.
Step 2. Request permission from copyright owner
Step 3. Acknowledge the permission you have obtained in your work
(Click to enlarge)
The copyright owner does not always charge when granting a permission. For example, to reuse a part from a publication in your own research work usually costs zero as reflected on the permission document issued at the end of the application process. However, there are chances that the author of work asks for a charge for a permission. If you do not wish to pay for the permission, you may consider the following solutions:
Many are confused between copyright infringement and plagiarism. Plagiarism is passing off someone’s work as your own without giving proper acknowledgment, while copyright infringement is using someone’s creative work without permission. Therefore, citing the source of a copyrighted work (e.g. figure/diagram) does not mean that copyright of that work has been cleared - you are still required to obtain permission to reuse the work unless your situation can be covered under fair dealing. Also remember that there are situations where plagiarism and copyright infringement can occur in the same case, e.g. submitting a photograph (creative work) taken by someone else from the Internet using your name (passing off as your own). In such cases, you may need to cite after obtaining permission to use the work. 
Contact us if you need assistance from a librarian.
References:
To ask for permission from publishers used to be a complicated and time-consuming issue. Nowadays, the process has been dramatically simplified with the help of online permission services, such as RightsLink® from Copyright Clearance Center (CCC). Many major publishers have partnered with CCC and integrated their platforms with RightsLink. This means that you could request a permission directly from publisher's site by filling out a simple form.
Below is an example of how to request for permission to reuse part of a journal article from ScienceDirect (Elsevier). To see guidelines from other publishers, go to "List of Permission Guidelines from Publishers" tab.
Step 1. Locate the article from the database or journal, and click on "Get rights and content". In other databases, it can be "Request permissions", or "Reprints & Permissions".
Step 2. The RightsLink page will then be launched. Click on "Make a selection" to choose how you wish to reuse this article.
Step 3. Fill out the form and click on "Quick Check" to check the price. In most cases, to reuse a part of the article (e.g., text, figures, tables) in a new research work (e.g., journal article, book, thesis) is free of charge.
Step 4. Click "Continue" and create an account on CCC if you have not done so. After signing in, you will be asked to provide some details about your research work, e.g., your name and contact information, article title, journal and the publisher you plan to submit your work to.
Step 5. Finally you will arrive at this page - an e-version agreement that consists of your license details and the terms and conditions provided by the publisher and CCC. With this agreement, you are now permitted to reuse part of this article in your research work. Note that you may be required to submit this agreement along with your article submission.
Major publishers all define their guidelines regarding how to request a permission to reuse their copyrighted content. Visit the guideline of individual publishers for details:
Research students may come across copyright issues when working on their thesis projects. On the one hand, they may include copyright materials in their thesis, such as a quote from a journal article, or an image from a website, or reuse the material from their own journal publication, in which the copyright may have been transferred to the publisher. On the other hand, students may also wish to publish journal articles that are resulted from the research done in their thesis. In either situation, students need to deal with copyright issues. Here are some suggestions:
To reuse copyright materials in the thesis work, the author needs to ensure that specific permission has been obtained from the copyright owner. However, some exceptions allow reusing copyrighted materials without permission for research or private study purposes, e.g., quoting a short quotation from a journal article in the thesis work. Some publishers also allow authors to reuse their own journal articles in part or in full in their thesis work. Refer to our guides to learn more about obtaining permission from the copyright owner and fair dealing.
Note that citing the source of a copyrighted work does not mean that the copyright has been cleared - the author is still required to obtain permission unless the situation can be covered under fair dealing.
There are chances that the author will be asked by the journal editor to confirm the copyright issue of turning part of his/her thesis work into a journal publication. Generally, publishers would not have issues with publishing papers as a resulting from the student thesis, as long as
1) the article contains materials that have been extensively revised from the thesis, and
2) the student/author has given credit to his/her thesis work in the article.
Note that a copy of the research student's thesis may be uploaded to the institutional repository (PIRA) for public access. Students can apply for a delay in making their thesis openly accessible by submitting an application for keeping their thesis confidential. For details, please refer to the Research Postgraduate Student Handbook.
If you employed Generative AI (GenAI) or AI-assisted tools in your thesis, please find more information in Generative AI in Publishing.
Publishers regularly get in touch with thesis authors via email with an offer to publish their work. These unsolicited proposals are concerning since publishing with these organizations could limit how you can use the information in your thesis in the future.
Students are suggested to seek permission from PolyU if you decide to publish a book with the same content of your theses.
