FAQ Copyright, Creative Commons & OER

Under CopA Art. 2(1), material is deemed to be protected if it:

• is the intellectual creation of an individual,
• exhibits an individual character, and
• is expressed in a work.

Pursuant to CopA Art. 2(2), such materials thus include written works, musical pieces, images, plans and maps as well as photographic and cinematographic works. Materials that are not considered protected works in a legal sense and are thus not copyright protected include:

• images generated by machines or computers, such as surveillance camera recordings, 
• legal texts, minutes issued by authorities and templates for business letters and
• ideas that are not expressed in a work

If a work that you would like to use is not covered by an open licence (e.g. a Creative Commons licence), ask the author (or the rights holder) for their consent where appropriate. When doing so, go into as much detail as possible about the planned use.
To ensure you can prove the issuing of consent, you should permanently archive the relevant correspondence. If you do not receive consent, you can look for an alternative that is available under an open licence.

See also: Where can I find openly licensed materials?

• Openly licensed materials, e.g., under Creative Commons licenses.
• Public domain materials (70 years after the death of the creators), or
• materials for which you have obtained personal permission from the authors.
• Citing works in publicly available educational materials is also allowed (see below).

Under the Swiss Copyright Act, images, films and audio material may be cited in the same way as written texts. However, the right of quotation (CopA Art. 25) requires that the content of the material is dealt with in depth.

• A quotation exists if the foreign work serves to illustrate or explain your own statements. A genuine reference between the cited work and your explanatory text is necessary. Pictures for decoration or as a substitute for own material do not fulfill this criterion.
• The extent of the representation must correspond to the purpose of the citation. Only as much external material may be used as is necessary to illustrate/explain your own statement.
• Furthermore, the identification of the source is obligatory. As with citing texts, name the original source with the cited image, video or audio contribution.

The © symbol is an international symbol that is used in connection with copyright protected works. It indicates a work’s copyright holder.
However, there is no requirement to use the © symbol. Copyright applies to a work as soon as it is created. Registration or other formalities, such as the use of the © symbol or “All rights reserved”, are not required.
All works that can be freely found online and that are not covered under an open licence, such as a Creative Commons licence, are therefore copyright protected.

Under CopA Art. 29(2), a work’s copyright protection expires 70 years after the death of the author. In the case of software, this period is 50 years.

Works for which copyright has expired (in Switzerland, 70 years after the death of the author or final copyright holder), are deemed to be in the public domain (see CopA Art. 29).
You are permitted to use, change and distribute these works even if no licence or public domain mark is attached.

Copyright is divided into moral rights and rights of use.

• The moral rights remain unchanged with you: you decide on initial publication and your name must be stated in connection with the work.

• The rights of use for copyright protected works that university employees have created in performing their official duties lie with the university in accordance with the FaHG law governing the Zurich universities of applied sciences and arts §16(1)(b)).
  If you would like to use your own materials in another context outside of your teaching activities at the ZHAW, you can publish these (with consent) in accordance with the ZHAW Open Educational Resources (OER) Policy under an open licence (see details in a separate section, below).
  Or you can have the rights of use for the material transferred to you using the relevant form (ZHAW intranet, in German only).
• For students is worth noting that, assignments and theses written in class at the ZHAW and/or supervised by ZHAW faculty are subject to the study program regulations or examination regulations. For the publication of these works, you need the consent of your lecturer. Please contact them.
  

If you would like to use your teaching materials in another context outside of your teaching activities at the ZHAW, you have two options:

1. Publication under an open license like Creative Commons (see details in a separate section): Obtain the consent of your line managers. For reasons of proof, you should keep the written confirmation of consent (e.g. e-mail). You can use your material under Creative Commens-licenses in any context.
2. Have the rights of use transferred from the ZHAW to you: If you opt against open licensing, you can request that the rights of use for the material be transferred to you: Transfer agreement for rights of use in the GPM portal (Intranet, in German only).

Take the warning seriously – provided it relates to a work that you have actually used. However, do not sign any cease-and-desist declarations, pay a contractual penalty or agree to a settlement without further ado. Firstly, check whether the accusation of a copyright infringement is actually justified.

If possible, remove the content in question from the network and seek legal advice if you can.

In connection with works that are created as part of your employment relationship at the ZHAW, it is best to consult the ZHAW Legal Service (intranet page available in German only).

Find more information in the FAQs of CCdigitallaw.ch (Question 2.2.8-1).

Many image databases with free images publish their materials under their own licence (e.g. Pixabay, Unsplash, or Pexels).

Even if the licenses of these image databases, like CC0-licensed images, do not require attribution / naming of the authors, it is still advisable to indicate the origin and link to the original.

• This way you can prove the origin of the material when you receive a warning.
• You do not make the image material your own by passing it on under your own name.

According to CopA Art. 2, Swiss copyright law protects only intellectual creations (by persons). Content generated solely by AI is not protected by copyright. However, the material may have some overlap with existing copyright protected materials with which the AI tool has been trained. Also, the tools' terms and conditions may state that the content may not be shared publicly.

• If possible, ask the AI to state the sources. Check whether and how closely the content is modeled on human intellectual creations, which themselves may be copyrighted.
• Check whether the tool's terms and conditions prohibit public sharing.
• Indicate the provenance by including the name of the AI tool, the date, and your prompt/ request.
  For example: image created with DALL-E on 4/28/2023 with the command "Forest on a concrete market square".

Only the work is protected by copyright, not the idea. You may therefore make your own images that are inspired by other works.

It is important though, that your work is not a pure copy, i.e. that the original is not directly recognizable in the new work. Better put away the original and create the model or image anew from your own imagination and use your creativity.

Where there is little room for originality (for example, in an anatomical drawing), it is quicker to assume that you have moved sufficiently far from the original image. However, anything like just changing the color is usually not enough.

In a scientific context, it is necessary to name the original source, e.g.: Own work based on XY (year) and the full details of the source in the reference list.