Section 10 of the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act 2000 is the provision that makes review, criticism, scholarship and journalism possible.
Section 10 — quotation
(1) Notwithstanding section 6(1)(a), the reproduction, in the form of quotation, of a short part of a published work may be made without authorization of the author or other owner of the copyright — provided that the reproduction is compatible with fair practice and does not exceed the extent justified by the purpose.
(2) A quotation shall be accompanied by an indication of the source and the name of the author where his name appears in the work from which the quotation is taken.
The four conditions
| Condition | What it requires |
|---|---|
| 1. In the form of quotation | The material must be presented as a quotation — identifiable as someone else’s words or work, used in the course of your own. Reproducing a passage as though it were your own text is not quotation |
| 2. A short part | The extract must be short relative to the work quoted. There is no percentage or word count in the Act — it is a question of degree |
| 3. Of a published work | Published as defined in section 2: tangible copies made available to the public in a reasonable quantity, with consent. Unpublished material cannot be quoted under section 10 |
| 4. Compatible with fair practice, and not exceeding what the purpose justifies | Two separate tests — an honesty test and a proportionality test |
Quoting from a leaked draft, an unreleased manuscript, a private letter, an internal report or an unpublished thesis is outside section 10 — however short the extract and however fair the purpose. The exception protects the author’s decision about whether and when to publish.
Note that under section 5(b), no permission is needed at all to quote from official texts of a legislative, administrative or legal nature. Legislation and judgments are outside copyright entirely.
“Compatible with fair practice”
“Fair practice” is an objective standard drawn from the Berne Convention. It asks whether the use accords with the honest practices of the field — publishing, scholarship, journalism, criticism — in which it occurs.
Factors that point away from fair practice: quoting so extensively that readers no longer need the original; quoting for the sake of the borrowed material rather than to support your own comment; failing to attribute; quoting selectively to distort what the author said — which may also engage the author’s integrity right under section 7(1)(d).
Note the overlap with section 8(2)(e), which withholds the private copying exception where reproduction would conflict with a normal exploitation of the work or unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the owner. The same idea informs fair practice here.
This is a proportionality test, and it works both ways. A long quotation may be justified where the purpose genuinely requires it — a close textual analysis, a review of a poem, a legal argument about the meaning of a clause. A short quotation may be excessive where it is merely decorative.
The right question is not “how many words may I take?” but “how much do I need for what I am doing, and is what I am doing an honest use?”
Subsection (2) — the attribution requirement
The quotation shall be accompanied by an indication of the source and the name of the author where his name appears in the work from which it is taken.
“Shall” makes this mandatory, not advisory. A quotation that satisfies every other condition but omits the source or the author’s name is outside section 10 and is an infringement of the reproduction right.
The source must always be indicated — the book, article, recording or broadcast from which the quotation is taken.
The author’s name must be given where his name appears in the work quoted. If the source work is anonymous, there is nothing to reproduce.
Attribution also serves the author’s moral right under section 7(1)(a) to have his name indicated prominently in connection with any public use. Two provisions point the same way.
What quotation does not permit
It permits reproduction. It does not authorise translation (s 6(1)(b)), adaptation (s 6(1)(c)), public performance (s 6(1)(h)), broadcasting (s 6(1)(i)) or communication to the public (s 6(1)(j)) of the quoted material as such.
In practice a quotation reproduced within your own article is then distributed or communicated as part of your work, and that is unobjectionable. But quoting a substantial passage in order to broadcast it, or translating a passage and publishing the translation, goes beyond section 10.
For those uses, look to section 13, which expressly excepts sections 6(1)(a), (i) and (j) for informatory purposes — including short excerpts of a work seen or heard in the course of current events, and political speeches and speeches delivered in legal proceedings.
Under section 25, the rights of performers, producers and broadcasting organisations do not apply to the use of short excerpts for reporting current events, to reproduction solely for scientific research, to face-to-face teaching, or in cases where a work may be used without the author’s authorisation under Part II.
That last paragraph carries section 10 across: a quotation permitted against the author is equally permitted against the performer, producer and broadcaster.
Quoting an expression of folklore
Expressions of folklore are protected under Part V, not by copyright, and section 10 does not apply to them. Section 30(2) has its own exceptions — personal use, short excerpts for reporting current events, and face-to-face teaching or scientific research.
And section 30(3) imposes its own attribution rule, in stronger terms than section 10(2): in all publications and communications to the public of an identifiable expression of folklore, its source shall be indicated in an appropriate manner and in conformity with fair practice, by mentioning the community or place from where the expression utilized is derived.
Sources
- Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act 2000 — ss 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 25, 30
Before relying on anything here, read the current text of the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act 2000 and check for later amendments. If a decision matters to you, get advice — start with the Office of the Public Solicitor, or find a firm in the law firms directory.