Copyright: Basics and support

Copyright is a legal right that arises the moment you create materials (e.g. works of literature, science or art). It gives you as the creator control over how the work is used and shared. Copyright is free of charge and applies internationally. It gives the creator two kinds of rights:

• Moral rights, which always belong to the creator (such as the right to be credited and to object to changes that could harm their reputation), and
• Exploitation rights, which cover the right to reuse, reproduce, or distribute the work and can be licensed or transferred to others. For example, when you give another party an exclusive license to your work, you lose your exploitation rights, but you retain the moral rights.

In the Netherlands, copyright is governed by the Auteurswet and lasts from the moment you create the work until 70 years after your death.  Once the 70-year period is over, the work will be in the public domain. Works in the public domain are not protected by copyright, trademark or patent laws.  Anyone can legally use, share, modify, or distribute these materials for free without asking for permission.

As a University of Twente researcher, teacher or student, you will inevitably have to deal with copyrights. You might be infringing copyrights of other people’s work or transferring copyrights of your own without realizing it, so be sure to also read the other UT pages concerning copyright.

The Copyright Information Point (CIP) is aimed at supporting and monitoring the lawful (re)use of copyright protected material at the University of Twente. The first point of contact for questions concerning copyright is the faculty Information Specialist. To contact the CIP directly, please use our general email: cip@utwente.nl