This website provides answers to the above questions. The answers relate to the Dutch situation and may not always be applicable for other countries. There are a few basic rules, which we aim to explain. The website also provides background information and suggests practical ways of dealing with copyright issues.  guidelines for those who want to know more about the role of higher education institutions as regards copyright, or who need to find concrete solutions. SURF will soon be publishing specific information about legal matters, including copyright, in educational situations and where images and recordings are concerned. This will be dealt with by the Digital Rights Expertise Community.

The main focus will be on authors of scientific and scholarly articles or dissertations. An author’s publication often gives him/her a relationship with the institution or publisher concerned or with other users. The website provides information on the best way to regulate that relationship from the legal point of view for all the parties concerned, but particularly for the author.

This website is an initiative of SURF, which hopes that it will help users to gain a better understanding of copyright. We also hope it will assist professionals at higher education institutions to deal with copyright issues as effectively as possible.
Besides general information about copyright, the website provides specific information for authors of scientific/scholarly articles and dissertations. It also provides guidelines for those who want to know more about the role of higher education institutions as regards copyright, or who need to find concrete solutions. SURF will soon be publishing specific information about legal matters, including copyright, in educational situations and where images and recordings are concerned. This will be dealt with by the SURF Digital Rights Expertise Community (SURFdirect).

More information about SURF & copyright