I ran Patricia Dark’s query to the listserv last week past our Information Policy team, and below is the response they produced.

Nick

Nicholas Kingsley | Head of Archives Sector Development & Secretary of the Historical Manuscripts Commission
The National Archives | Kew | Richmond | Surrey TW9 4DU | 0208 392 5369: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

Dear Dr. Dark,

Thank you for your email enquiry dated June 18^th, 2013, which has been passed to me for my attention.  There is an onus on most public sector bodies to provide details of copyright ownership, where known, however, archives fall outside the scope of the Public Sector Information regulations.  Therefore whilst  we would advise that you have no legal obligation to establish copyright ownership, it would be good practice to confirm that the individual  archive does not own copyright, and suggest who might be the owner, if known.

I hope this helps.

Yours sincerely

I am having a discussion with our legal team about our reproduction licence paperwork, who have asked me to check that the legal onus to trace copyright holders and/or clear copyright doesn’t fall on our service. Historically, we’ve always put the burden of tracing a copyright holder and clearing copyright on the person seeking to use copyright material – we don’t have the resources to do anything other than provide whatever contact details, if any, we have – and it’s not something that I’ve ever heard of an archive doing. Moreover, common sense would dictate that the person doing the legwork should be the person who intends to benefit, rather than us.

However, if only for my own peace of mind, I’d like to be able to cite chapter and verse that the correct person to bear the burden of copyright clearance is the prospective licencee. I’ve looked over the text of the CDPA 1988 and can’t find anything useful, I’m afraid; the closest I can come is a page from the ICO website on clearing copyright.

If anyone has any useful or illuminating information, I’d be most grateful!

Thanks very much indeed, Patricia

--

Dr. Patricia Dark

Local History Library and Archive Manager

Local History Library, Southwark Culture

Southwark Council

Local Studies Library

John Harvard Library

211 Borough High Street

London

SE1 1JA

Tel: 020 75250232

http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/200161/local_history_library

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