Copyright Basics | Copyright in Teaching and Learning | Copyright in Research | Copyright Clearing Office

Course Pack and Copyright

The current Guidelines on Photocopying of Printed Works by Not-for-Profit Educational Establishments do not cover course pack. It implies that any faculty and academic department of the University that intend to produce course packs for their students have to seek permission from the copyright owner or seek a license from a local licensing body by paying appropriate royalty.

Assistance for online teaching activities

  • For UGC-funded programmes, special funding is available for digital course packs applications as far as the funding is available.

Service of Copyright Clearing Office

To ensure the production of course packs is legal, the University has signed the License Agreement (Course Packs) with the Hong Kong Reprographic Rights Licensing Society (HKRRLS). The License Agreement grants the University the right to make and use PRINT or DIGITAL copies of the licensed materials for preparation of course packs subject to the terms and conditions set out in the Agreement.

Authorized by the Senate, a Copyright Clearing Office (CCO) has been set up at The Chinese University of Hong Kong Library to act as the liaison point and registration office for:

  • clearing the copyright for course packs according to the License Agreement
  • obtaining a unique “Reference Number” for each course pack from HKRRLS
  • collecting the copyright clearing cost from Faculty/departments and settling the payment to HKRRLS

CCO does not cover the production or printing of course packs.

Please note that the copyright clearing cost only covers materials licensed by HKRRLS as listed in Schedule II.  No license fee is needed for the following types of materials included in a course pack:

  • Materials with copyright owned by professors or instructors themselves
  • Materials from professors or instructors to students including course details, grading criteria, assignments, reading list, URLs for accessing online articles, examination timetables, etc.

For the following materials, fees need to be paid directly to the respective copyright owners:

  • Materials licensed from publishers or copyright owners other than HKRRLS
  • List of materials excluded from the HKRRLS license agreement, as listed in Schedule IV, the additional exclusions list provided by HKRRLS

Contact

Copyright Clearing Office
Tel: 3943 9732
E-mail: cco@lib.cuhk.edu.hk
Address: Research Support & Digital Initiatives, 1/F University Library, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Library

License Agreement

The following is highlights of the License Agreement. For Digital Course Pack, the full agreement is available here; for Printed Course Pack, the full agreement is available here.

  1. Copies of the licensed materials for preparation of course packs must be used for instruction to CUHK courses and distribution to CUHK students only.
  2. Instructors cannot copy more than one complete article of any length from each issue of newspaper, journal or periodical for inclusion in any one single course pack in any one academic year.
  3. Instructors cannot copy more than ten percent (10%) or a chapter of any licensed materials other than newspapers, journals or periodicals, whichever covers the smaller portion of the licensed material, for inclusion in any one single course pack in any one academic year. (Requests for more than 10% or one chapter may be possible dependent on negotiations with HKRRLS and the publishers they represent)
  4. Each course pack cannot include copies of extracts from more than 30 works.
  5. Licensed materials do not include all works listed in Schedule IV “List of Excluded Licensed Materials” of the Agreement (For Digital and Print), and books written in accordance with any syllabus issued by the Hong Kong Curriculum Development Council.
  6. Course Pack Copyright clearing fee (license fee to HKRRLS, each student)
    – HK$1.00 per page from Jan 1, 2022 – Dec 31, 2022
    – HK$1.05 per page from Jan 1, 2023 – Dec 31, 2024
  7. Requests of extracts more than 10% or one chapter of a book may be possible dependent on negotiations with HKRRLS and the publishers they represent. Applications will be considered case by case.
  8. A course pack application is only valid during the duration of a course (e.g., one semester). A new application is required for the next cohort of students.

Special note for Digital Course Packs

  • Digital copies of the licensed materials for preparation of course packs must be used for instruction to CUHK courses and made available via a network which requires secure authentication and is only accessible by CUHK students and staff, such as Blackboard and ReadingList (limit access for the course users) platforms.
  • Only course users may download and print out digital copies.

Procedure

  • Step 1: Complete the Application Form for Copyright Clearance of Course Packs ( FC-1).
  • Step 2: Complete the Table of Contents of Course Packs ( FC-2).
  • Step 3: Submit both Forms to the Copyright Clearing Office (CCO). Upon successful clearing of copyright, CCO will provide you with a reference number for the course pack.
  • Step 4: Production of the course pack by departments [Important Reminder: As required by HKRRLS, complete the Cover Page and Content Page (FC-1, Attachment B) and put it on the course pack.]
  • Step 5: Complete Record of Course Pack Production (FC-3), once the number of students of the course has been confirmed. Send FC-3 and FC-1, Attachment B to CCO.
  • Step 6: Payment: Fill out the “Interdepartmental Transfer Form” received from Copyright Clearing Office afterwards.


Remark: Assistance for online teaching activities

  • Signatures in the application forms can be replaced by copying to the relevant persons if signatures in hard copies are difficult to arrange.
  • For UGC-funded programmes, special funding is available for digital course packs applications as far as the funding is available.

Forms Download