Copyright in Medical Communications
Industry Insights

Erin Callahan, Senior Director, Information and Content Solutions at CCC shares her thoughts on this question below.  

One of the main goals of Marketplace is to enable MedComms professionals to get copyright permission to reuse article content from multiple publishers in one place. With that goal in mind, we built several ways in Marketplace for users to quickly verify article content — including the associated figures, tables, etc.  

First, search for content for which you need permissions by article title, DOI, ISSN, authors, or publisher. In your search results you will find the article title, list of authors, the article’s DOI, the name and ISSN of the journal, date of the publication, and other bibliographic details.  

If you would then like to view the article to verify you have the right content, click the link on the article DOI in your Marketplace search results. Selecting the DOI link will bring you to the publisher’s website where you can view the article abstract and opt to see the full article. Clicking the PMID or PMCID link will bring you to PubMed or PubMed Central respectively where you can also view the abstract and elect to see the full text article. 

15 May 2025

The rightsholder’s legal team should determine, depending on the specific situation, how and what action may be taken as a next step (if anything) based on the organization’s policies. In certain scenarios, other teams such as Anti-Piracy departments may be brought in to assist in any resolution. 

When faced with these situations, I’ve worked with our legal team to determine the appropriate course of action. To help inform my discussion with the legal team, I provide relevant information about what I know of the situation, such as 

• Information about what original content that was reused 
• How the content was reused 
• Description of where, by whom, when and in what manner the content was reused 

I find that most often people want to do the right thing, and often a licensing solution may exist, and many publishers will be open to working with organizations or individuals to resolve concerns. From understanding how copyright exceptions or limitations apply to appreciating the differences in publication licenses, copyright can be complicated. Again, partnering with legal counsel is key when addressing these matters. Your organization’s enforcement strategy and policies should always guide your response. 

7 May 2025

CCC reached out to Leslie Lansman, Global Permissions Manager at Springer Nature, based in the UK, for her perspective on this reader question.  

If you see you or your organization’s content being reused without permission or being reused in a way that goes beyond the terms of any existing license, you should check with your legal team to determine their general policies and typical responses to handling these types of issues. 

Different companies have different policies in place and it’s important to work with your team to ensure a consistent approach. When you talk to your team, you’ll want to provide them with detailed and relevant information including specifically identifying and describing what content was reused, how you discovered the reuse, details on who reused the content (including information on any affiliated organization), and any other information you think may help explain what happened, how, and why. Screen shots, URL links, or other forms of confirmation regarding the reuse are all extremely helpful. Finally, it is advisable to raise such issues with your legal team as soon as you discover them so that any response may be undertaken in a timely manner. 

By working with your legal department, you help ensure that these types of problematic reuses are analyzed appropriately and handled in accordance with best practices.  

30 April 2025

Tracy Forrester, Manager, Reprint Operations at CCC, shares her perspective below.

A reprint is a professionally produced, commercial quality reprint of a complete scholarly published journal article. The journal article can be customized with a cover page, code or disclaimer, and may be black and white or color. Reprints are produced in bulk quantities and distributed for external use, often for promotional or marketing purposes. A permission request does not involve printing or delivery of material. A permission request is purely clearance of published material to be reused or shared to a wide audience. Permission requests usually stem from customers who would like to share or display a portion of an article, such as a figure, chart or image in a presentation to a large audience.

23 April 2025

CCC reached out to Leslie Lansman, Global Permissions Manager at Springer Nature, based in the UK, for her perspective on this reader question.   

When sending promotional or medical materials by email to external healthcare providers, you may wish to include links to bibliographic references to support your message. However, rules around hyperlinks can vary depending on the jurisdiction. Therefore, it’s always best to reach out to the rightsholder or your organization’s copyright officer or legal counsel for guidance about how your particular use may be treated in your jurisdiction.  That said, here are some considerations to help evaluate your use case:  

• Is the content behind a paywall or a website that requires a subscription to access? In these cases, depending on your use, you may need to acquire additional permission from the rightsholder to share with a wider audience.  

• Be aware of where you are linking to. You should never link to content you know or have reason to believe is a pirated, infringing, or otherwise a copy that was uploaded without the authorisation of the copyright holder. 

• Consider any website terms and conditions. Does the rightsholder require you to provide proper attribution or other identification when linking to their work? You should never share any link in a manner that passes off the content as your own or otherwise implies any untrue affiliation between you and the original publication’s authors or publishers.  

While, depending on your use case, you may be able to hyperlink to content on a webpage, remember, this does not mean you are free to copy and paste the content that appears on the webpage elsewhere without permission. If in doubt, it is advisable to contact the website owner or review the website’s relevant terms and conditions or follow up with your organization’s copyright expert or legal team. 

16 April 2025

Erin Callahan, Senior Director of Information and Content Solutions at CCC, shares her perspective below.

There are differences between referencing and reusing content. In this example, you should be able to talk about the underlying research from the article, build upon that research, and reference the article and its publication without obtaining additional permission from the publisher. You may even describe in detail the way you developed a technical illustration included in the article and share the title of the article with your audience. But, if you want to use the technical drawing in the slides you plan to present to attendees at the conference, and the Copyright Transfer Agreement doesn’t account for that use, you will need to request additional permission from the publisher. 

9 April 2025

CCC reached out to Elizabeth Jennings, Associate Editorial Director at UK-based Lucid, for her perspective.

I have found that this is a journal-specific query. Best practice is to contact the rightsholder. In the future, consider consulting the conference exhibitor and sponsor prospectus and research attendee numbers for the previous year’s event to estimate the potential number of people who will view the content at a conference. I recommend rounding up your estimated audience size to ensure you are in compliance with the granted reuse license. 

2 April 2025

Erin Callahan, Senior Director, Information & Content Solutions at CCC, shares her perspective on this question below.

The general rule is that you should seek permission to use any protectable content when you are not the copyright owner unless a clear copyright exception applies or there’s another agreement in place that would cover the use. This could be the case even if you are an author of the protected work if you have transferred at least some of your rights in the work.

For example, imagine you authored a journal article based on kidney cancer research you conducted, including an original technical drawing of kidney disease progression in that article. You then find a publisher who is excited to publish your work, and you sign a Copyright Transfer Agreement that assigns all of your rights to the publisher while also allowing you to use the article, including the illustration, in your presentations.

If you end up later presenting your research at a conference and want to include the illustration in your slides, which will be shown during your speech and will be distributed to the audience after, you have to look closely at your Copyright Transfer Agreement to see if all of those uses are included. If they are, you can use the article as planned but, if not, you’ll have to get additional permission to use the work for any uses that go beyond what the Copyright Transfer Agreement covers.

26 March 2025

Chole Olore, Education Program Specialist at CCC, shares her thoughts on this question below. 

To be both compliant and effective, medical communications projects require that you can access and share trusted content quickly under the protection of valid and current permission licenses.  Copyright compliance can be forgotten when procuring or using content under tight deadlines, or users might not understand that what they are doing might be copyright infringement, so it’s helpful to encourage your clients to build in the necessary time to secure permissions. In short, the earlier the better to avoid hurriedly securing permissions or risking a presenter or author using the content without the necessary permissions.  

19 March 2025

Erin Callahan, Senior Director of Information and Content Solutions at CCC, shares her thoughts below. 

CCC’s Marketplace receives Open Access information as part of the article data sent by rightsholders. The article search results in Marketplace identify when the article is covered under a Creative Commons Open Access license and includes a link to the Creative Common’s website where you can find more information about the rights the particular license grants. Click here to learn more about the six Creative Common’s licenses.  

12 March 2025

Brian Goode, Senior Product Solutions Manager at CCC, shares his thoughts below. 

CCC introduced the option “Reuse in a Project” to Marketplace and RightsLink for Permissions customers more than five years ago. The “Type of Use” or “TOU” was developed in close collaboration between rightsholders, MedComms professionals, and CCC, at in-person workshops and other events with all parties working through the most common content reuse scenarios. With that said, we recognize that there are gaps we need to address as market needs have evolved. For example, we’ve received numerous requests from rightsholders and MedComm professionals to add an option to indicate that the reused content will be distributed via email. CCC is bringing rightsholders and MedComms professionals 13 May in London to discuss updates to this type of use and others. If you are interested in participating in this in-person event, please reach out to Erin Callahan, Senior Director of Information & Content Solutions at CCC, for more information at ecallahan@copyright.com. 

5 March 2025

Erin Callahan, Senior Director, Information & Content Solutions at CCC shares her perspective on this question below. 

Yes. Content (written or otherwise) found on a website or social media is typically protected by copyright. If you wish to use the content, you must ask permission from the original creator of the material.  As soon as something is written down, it is protected by copyright. In addition to “traditional” works like journal articles and books, everything posted online is protected by copyright if it is original.   

Copyright protects online materials, including social media content, in the same way it protects other works. There is no “implied free license” to take online works like photographs and use them without permission.  Instead, the same concepts apply. Original works, that are recorded in some way, are protected by copyright.   

26 February 2025

Over 43% of respondents reported an equal amount of uncertainty regarding the following topics: 

• How to use published content in presentations at conferences or congresses 

• How to develop internal copyright education and employee training 

• How to use open access (OA) content 

• How to adapt figures/tables/charts to remain copyright compliant  

Adapting figures, a frequent Industry Insights topic, presented the biggest challenge for 20% of respondents while 16% reported that using published content in conference presentations raised the most questions for them. An almost equal number of respondents (15%) said knowing how to compliantly use open access content was their top concern. Just 6% of respondents noted that they struggled most with developing copyright training for their team.  

For guidance tackling these challenges, continue sending your questions to the Industry Insights team and make plans to join us at CCC’s Copyright Basics for Medical Communications complimentary webcast on 26 February, or view the session on-demand.  

19 February 2025

CCC reached out to four MedComms professionals to share their collective anonymous perspective on this question.  

The MedComms professionals CCC spoke to said permissions costs can be exceeded if deemed necessary by the client. The client/speaker often makes the final call as to what content is high priority and approves the additional cost. One respondent explained that she makes certain clients understand that permissions fees can vary from publisher to publisher, and she spends a lot of time answering questions about why that is the case when reviewing the adjusted costs.  

Another MedComms respondent shared that often the client’s annual budget is not fixed. “I often see budgets increase as important articles are published and new campaigns begin,” they said. “It is important for publishers to communicate their publishing strategies to pharmaceutical companies and/or their MedComms partners so they can better plan and anticipate publication of articles that are important to their campaigns.”  

12 February 2025

Chloe Olore, Education Program Specialist at CCC, shares her thoughts on this question below.

In addition to rights, copyright law provides a variety of exceptions and limitations that allow some uses without seeking permission from the rightsholder. The most well-known of these in the United States is fair use, and the similar concept of fair dealing exists in countries like Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. Fair use and fair dealing often come up in areas like research, private study, criticism, or review.  

There is no set formula, but you must consider several factors when trying to determine if something is fair use:   

1. the purpose and character of the new use   
2. the nature of the copyright protected work   
3. the amount and substantiality of the use of the protected work and  
4. the new use’s impact on the market for the copyright protected work.  

As you can see, fair use is a fact-specific determination.  

However, and this is especially important for MedComms professionals, exceptions and limitations established in both fair use and fair dealing do not cover reuse of content for business purposes that compete with the market for the original works. For example, it would NOT be fair use to make copies of publications to make an offline library to share with colleagues. Always check with your editorial department and/or your legal counsel if you think that what you are doing with content is either fair use or fair dealing. They may already have guidance for these situations and can help with specific questions pertaining to your use of copyrighted content. 

5 February 2025

A general lack of understanding of copyright law was the biggest challenge for 44% of respondents while 22% reported that pushback from clients or internal stakeholders on the importance of licensing proved the biggest obstacle. Just 5% of respondents reported the absence of a formal copyright policy as their biggest challenge. However, 35% of attendees shared that they struggled equally with the absence of a formal policy, a lack of understanding of copyright law, and pushback from clients or internal stakeholders.  

For guidance tackling these challenges, attend CCC’s Copyright Basics for Medical Communications complimentary webcast on 26 February or view the session on-demand.  

29 January 2025

Chole Olore, Education Program Specialist at CCC, shares her thoughts on this question below. 

Where to direct permission requests depends on who the rightsholder is for the specific piece of content you want to reuse and there is more than one type of rightsholder. First, the rightsholder could be the original author, which could be an individual person or, when dealing with a work made for hire, a company that employs or commissions the work from an individual. Second, there can be multiple rightsholders for the same work, for example when two authors collaborate and create a joint work. Third, a rightsholder could give some of their rights away while still keeping the rest of the rights. This happens, for example, when someone gives their right to distribute their works in a specific country while keeping the distribution rights in other countries.

A rightsholders may transfer their rights, typically referred to as an assignment of rights, by agreeing to do so in writing. For example, in the MedComms world, authors often enter into Copyright Transfer Agreements with publishers, agreeing to transfer a certain set of rights to the publisher while still being able to make some other, usually more limited, uses of the author’s work.   

22 January 2025

CCC reached out to Leslie Lansman, Head of Permissions and Licensing, Springer Nature, based in the UK, for her thoughts on this question. 

When attribution is required, it is key that the reference is clearly attached to the content being reused.  

How you cite content may be explained in your licence, so you should first check those terms to see how any reused material should properly be attributed.  

Many times, you’ll want to include: 

• For content for which you received direct permission: Author, Title, Journal Details (if applicable), Publisher, Year 

• For content covered by a public licence such as the Creative Commons licences: Author, Title, Journal (if applicable), Publisher, Year, Creative Commons licence type (e.g. CCBY NC ND) 

• For content in the public domain, you may still need to provide a clear reference including Author, Title, Journal (if applicable), Publisher, Year 

In my experience, many rightsholders understand that not all reuse scenarios allow for detailed attribution, so in places likes slide decks, it may be acceptable to condense the citation. For example, only listing the lead author and including et al., or shortening the title of the work (indicated by an ellipse). Before you do this, check the license terms and, if in doubt, ask the rightsholder.  

For example, Springer Nature would expect to see the following citation on a slide: Baker et al, “A core in a star forming disc . . .” Nature Astr., Oct 2024, CCBY 4.0 

If you do include a bibliography or list of citations at the end of the slide deck, it’s essential that each piece of reused content in the deck is clearly and correctly labelled so that the complete reference is easily findable. 

15 January 2025

CCC reached out to Elizabeth Jennings, Associate Editorial Director, Lucid Global in the UK for her thoughts on this question.  

As part of the criteria forming the Terms and Conditions (T&C) for a reuse license, rightsholders often ask for that you specify the intended reuse formats during the quotation process. The rightsholder will decide whether they are separate reuses. As such, it is always best practice to consult with the rightsholder, being upfront and transparent about all intended formats. The T&Cs for a copyright license are typically clear and legally binding, so stepping outside of them with an undeclared format could be problematic. Always carefully check that the detail in the quote, and the T&Cs of your reuse license, reflect your intentions and specific requirements

8 January 2025

For their perspective on this reader questions, CCC reached out to Zoe Preston, Editorial Support Services Manager, at Nucleus Global.

This is a difficult question to address because there could be legal issues that may be governed by a variety of contractual clauses specific to each client. With that said, open and honest dialogue is always the best approach, as it may be a simple misunderstanding of what is required and how copyright law is interpreted in a particular country/region.  If the issue isn’t cleared up through direct conversation with the client, you should talk to your lawyer for advice on how to proceed.  

18 December 2024

For her thoughts on this question, CCC reached out to Elizabeth Jennings, Associate Editorial Director at Lucid Group, based in the UK.    

In this kind of promotional or medical material, or in pre-reads for HCPs prior to a meeting, it is often the case that you may want to include links to bibliographic references. However, rules around hyperlinks can vary to jurisdiction to jurisdiction, therefore it’s always best to reach out to the rightsholder or your organization’s copyright officer or legal counsel for guidance about how your particular use may be treated in your jurisdiction.  

11 December 2024

For his thoughts on this question, CCC reached out to Ben Kennedy, Collections and Permissions Manager at Oxford University Press, based in the UK.    

My opinion is that discussing or making reference to a scientific paper without sharing content/images, generally would not require permission from the rightsholder. However, if any figures/tables/illustrations are shown or reproduced on screen, I advise you to request permission from the rightsholder.  It’s always best to speak to your organization’s copyright officer or legal counsel to get more tailored recommendations on any permissions your specific use may require.  

4 December 2024

CCC reached out to Tracy Forrester, Manager, Reprints Operations at CCC for her perspective.  

Our Reprints and Permissions Services team manage these types of projects every day. We know that preparing for these types of external presentations to wide audiences can be challenging. There are often multiple pieces of content from many sources; even multiple types of uses needed for a single project. Our team is here to help. CCC provides full-service management of complex permissions projects as well as fulfillment of bulk commercial article reprints and ePrints. My team of experienced licensing professionals use CCC Marketplace, RightsLink for Permissions, and work directly with rightsholders to gather permissions costs for your review and approval. We’ve expanded the permissions team in the last year so we can jump in on even more projects on behalf of agencies and life science companies. You can learn more about Reprints and Permissions Services here or feel free to reach out to me directly at reprintsinfo@copyright.com. 

20 November 2024

CCC connected with Robert Gaggin, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Information and Content Solutions at CCC, for his perspective on this question.     

I’m pleased to share that the newly updated Marketplace Resource Center includes training videos and user guides translated into Japanese. Training tools include an overview of Marketplace as well as targeted guidance on: 

• The MedComms Search and Order process 

• Processing and tracking permissions orders using Manage Account 

• Grouping multiple permissions items in a project using the Project Builder tool 

To learn more, visit the Marketplace Resource Center to access the translated video tutorials and quick reference guides.  

13 November 2024

CCC reached out to Kat Edwards, Editorial Specialist Lead-Creative, at Ashfield in the UK, for her perspective on this question.

Last minute changes to content are a reality that we must anticipate. However, my team and I have found it most efficient to wait until we have a solid second draft of a presentation before submitting permissions requests to rightsholders in CCC Marketplace or RightsLink Permissions. At that point in the process, we feel fairly confident that most of the needed permissions are identified. 

We create a tracking spreadsheet and begin to submit requests, knowing that on average 30% of the requests will be “special requests” that will take time for the rightsholders to review to make a licensing and pricing decision. Of course, there will be some changes as the draft progresses to its final stage, but these additions are generally minimal. We can more easily accommodate the few last-minute permissions requests having done the bulk of them at draft two.

6 November 2024

Education Program Specialist at CCC in the US, Chloe Olore, provides her perspective on this question below.

Whether your reuse of materials is internal or external, you want to be sure that you’re respecting the rights of the copyright holder and securing the proper permission to carry out the use you’re planning. When you first find content that you would like to use internally, think about how you’d like to use it. Will it be posted to your employee intranet? Linked or attached to a companywide email?

Once you know the type or types of use you’re interested in, speak with your company’s copyright officers or legal department and see if those uses are covered by any existing licenses or subscriptions your company has in place. If additional permissions are required to use the content in the way you’re planning, your company’s copyright officer or legal team will likely be able to advise you on the next steps to acquire the proper permission to use the materials internally while remaining copyright compliant.

30 October 2024

CCC posed this question to Leslie Lansman, Global Permissions Manager at Springer Nature, based in the UK. Read her perspective below.     

It’s my experience that most permission agreements will include terms requiring the licensee to obtain clearance for any “third-party content.” The Open Access (OA) status of an article does not guarantee that all content within it is also OA; third-party content that may be subject to different copyright restrictions could be quoted or reproduced within any OA publication.  
 
For example, an article published under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license may include an image reproduced with permission from another work that is governed by a different set of terms and conditions, such as CC BY-NC-ND or all rights reserved. In these cases, a clear copyright notice should be provided beneath the content (or in a footnote/endnote) to indicate any material for which additional permission may be required, and you would need to seek a license from the appropriate copyright holder to replicate the material in your own work. If in doubt, it is always best to check with the rights holders as to whether any additional permission may be necessary. 

23 October 2024

Chloe Olore, Education Program Specialist at CCC, in the US, provides her perspective on this question.

There are often questions about what percentage of a work can be reused without permission. There is no overarching or set percentages to determine whether or not you need to seek permission from the rightsholder. Instead, this determination depends on the jurisdiction you are in and how you are using the work, among other things. This fact remains the same whether the content in question is a text-based work, image, or any other media. If you plan to redraw or reuse content, you should consult with your legal department to determine the permissions needed.

16 October 2024

CCC connected with Erin Callahan, Senior Director, Information and Content Solutions, for her perspective on this question.     

The STM Permissions Guidelines are a voluntary and reciprocal agreement between participating publishers to reuse limited material from published works for no permission fee. It’s important for MedComms to note that the guidelines do not provide permission to reuse figures for promotional purposes. 

To learn more about the STM Guidelines and how it may be relevant to your use, access a short overview video here. 

9 October 2024

Education Program Specialist at CCC, in the US, Chloe Olore, provides her perspective on this question.    

There are certainly steps you can take to help create an effective copyright compliance program at your company. A great first step is to find out if your organization has a documented compliance policy in place. If they don’t, create one! And if they do, make it a priority to continually review the policy and make updates as needed. The document should be kept current, and every company should have one. 

Another step to take is to proactively communicate the importance of copyright compliance within your company. Make sure employees know where they can read the compliance policy and understand what it means. Educate employees on the risks of infringement and perhaps even make a copyright compliance education or information session a part of your annual employee training.  

Additionally, it’s always encouraged to provide effective licensing solutions for employees, and make sure that those employees understand the license parameters and what it does, and does not, allow them to do.  

2 October 2024

CCC also posed this question to Elizabeth Jennings, Associate Editorial Director at Lucid Group, based in the UK, for her perspective.

It’s important to proactively share information and provide education about emerging permissions challenges.   In that vein, I regularly gather different scenarios my team and I encounter and document how we approached that challenge in a table.   The team reviews that table frequently because the recommended approach to those scenarios can evolve.  There’s a lot of variation between the publishers as well. Clients often ask me to provide clear guidance as to what they can and can’t do when reusing copyrighted content. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to provide definitive guidelines because there’s no one international law guiding reuse of content.  Most often you need to approach permissions questions on a case-by-case basis.  

So, going back to the table of permissions scenarios, we do our best within the scenarios to get as much information into that table as possible to guide the team. I remind my colleagues to check the table each time, rather than assume that what they did last time is going to work for the current case they are handling.  That’s the approach that works best for me. Get those scenarios sorted, document the recommended approach, and think about each reuse case by case. 

CCC connected with Leslie Lansman, Global Permissions Manager at Springer Nature, based in the UK, for her perspective on this reader question. Leslie’s reply follows below. 

One of the reasons I love my job is that copyright is always changing and licensing is always changing, and how people reuse content is ever evolving. We are seeing reuse evolving in hyper drive right now, particularly in areas around derivative uses or adaptation. There are new ways companies are putting published material into new products. Digital services as well, that used to be just one web page and now there’s all kinds of different types of digital offerings and digital services out there.  

So, as a rightsholder, we need to understand the details of these new reuse scenarios. We need to understand how people are reusing this content, how the market is evolving, and what business concerns are out there driving these innovative approaches to content reuse. 

25 September 2024

CCC reached out to Patrice Skelley, Director of Reprints, Permissions & Pharma Licensing at NEJM Group in the USA, for her perspective on this question.

Generally speaking, conference presentations and conference posters are not considered “published” materials at NEJM. For our purposes, the term “publication” typically involves a manuscript published in a scholarly Journal. If figures/charts/graphs (reproduced or modified) are part of the conference presentation or poster and also part of a published or to-be published manuscript, you should always contact the publisher for any rights that may be needed.  The Publisher will be familiar with the terms of the publishing agreement and will be able to share appropriate next steps.

11 September 2024

For her thoughts on this question, CCC reached out to Elizabeth Jennings, Associate Editorial Director at Lucid Group, based in the UK.

Creative Commons used to be seen as a bit of a “safe zone.” Many people equate a Creative Commons license as public domain, and falsely assume they can reuse that content in any way (without limitation) without seeking permission. That is certainly not always the case because there are various types of Creative Commons licenses built on the foundations of copyright law. Some Creative Commons licenses allow the original creator to retain the copyright, but also allow others to copy, distribute, and reuse their work non-commercially.

For medical communications professionals, it’s important to understand how Creative Commons licenses vary and be aware of specific Creative Commons license that allows reuse on a commercial basis, which is where MedComms fits in. Often you can use the licenses named CC-BY, CC-BYSA. You may also be permitted to use content covered by CC-BY-ND but you have to look carefully at that one because it doesn’t allow derivatives or adaptations. And don’t forget that each license requires credit and attributions to be given to the creator. As a general rule, a Creative Commons license does not automatically eliminate the requirement that medical communications professionals seek additional permission.

4 September 2024

For his thoughts on this question, CCC reached out to Ben Kennedy, Collections and Permissions Manager at Oxford University Press, based in the UK.

In itself, data is not copyrightable as it is considered to be factual rather than original work. However, how it is expressed can be covered by copyright – i.e. a chart, table, graphic etc. For example, data on the average height of children in a school year isn’t covered by copyright as it’s just facts but a creative bar chart showing the number of children at each height would most likely be covered.

It’s also worth noting that simply adapting an existing expression of that data, such as changing/adapting a chart slightly, would require permission but expressing the data in a different, new way would not. It can sometimes be difficult to tell whether a new use is sufficiently different enough to the original so we would always advise contacting the rightsholder if there is any doubt. The rightsholder will advise whether permission is required.

28 August 2024

For her perspective on this question, CCC reached out to Patrice Skelley, the Director of Reprints, Permissions & Pharma Licensing at NEJM Group in the USA.  

The publisher will be most familiar with the license terms of the article and can guide you as to any permissions needed for external communications. This guidance would apply to all figures and tables, whether reproduced or modified. 

21 August 2024

Education Program Specialist at CCC, in the US, Chloe Olore, provides her perspective on this question.   

At present, July 2024, there is not a single collective approach or rules surrounding AI, so it cannot be said that disclosing AI-generated content is or is not required in every instance. However, we are starting to see individual sites and companies implementing policies that require AI-generated materials to be identified. So again, there is not an overarching global requirement that calls for this type of disclosure, but this is a discussion being had at a company level so you should reach out to your legal counsel for more guidance.    

14 August 2024

Renee Castro, Senior Permissions and Copyright Coordinator at Envision Pharma Group, provides her perspective on this reader question below. 

Teams can take various proactive approaches to shift the mindset among clients who hesitate to secure copyright permissions. Begin by educating clients about the significance of copyright permissions and the legal ramifications of neglecting to obtain required licenses. I find it helpful to frame the discussion by asking clients to imagine themselves as copyright holders with control over the rights to their content. Remind them that by publishing their materials like journal manuscripts and poster abstracts, depending on the terms of their agreement they may be transferring their exclusive rights to the publisher. Consequently, the new copyright holder gains the authority to license the reuse of their material, typically charging fees to entities like pharmaceutical companies and medical communications agencies, for reuse. I encourage clients to seek advice from their legal teams and copyright experts to understand their specific publishing agreements and how the rights are allocated between the parties and how it may affect the client’s rights to use their content.   

In some cases, to help minimize permissions costs you can:    

• Work with the client to clearly identify their intended use case, e.g., how they want to use the materials.   

• Highlight the availability of content within the public domain or under Creative Commons licenses, which permit certain reuses at no cost.   

• Encourage clients to adopt a proactive approach to data publication in journals, including awareness of journals that operate under Creative Commons licenses. Educate clients about the various reuses permitted under such licenses and any conditions that come with the specific Creative Commons license they are utilizing, enabling informed decisions post-acceptance.  

• Emphasize the distinction between data reuse and the copyright protection afforded to the presentation of data.   

7 August 2024

CCC reached out to Erin Callahan, Senior Director, Information and Content Solutions, for her perspective on this question.    

There are a few questions to address here. For permission to reuse content in a MedComms project, the questions presented to the buyer are standardized across rightsholders in both Marketplace and RightsLink for Permissions. Rightsholders and MedComm professionals worked with CCC to develop these questions to ensure consistency and efficiency across channels and projects.    

However, RightsLink for Permissions is a bit different. Rightsholders can customize the questions/drop down menus presented to buyers in RightsLink. These questions are driven by the rightsholder and are not subject to a “legal guideline” or requirement. Rightsholders are free to determine what information they collect to determine whether to grant a permissions request and the cost of that permission.    

31 July 2024

Julie Halfacre, Manager at BMJ Publishing Group Ltd., provides her perspective on this reader question below. 

Navigating the reuse rules associated with the different Creative Commons licences can be confusing. When content is published under a CC-BY-NC licence it allows reuse, copying, distribution and adaptation of the original work without the need to apply for permission for non-commercial purposes only, provided that you provide an attribution to the original creator. 

A permission licence is required for all commercial uses. BMJ and our fellow STM publishers define “commercial use” as anything that gives commercial advantage.  For our pharmaceutical MedComms customers that also includes delivering educational material to healthcare practitioners. When in doubt, please contact the publishers’ permissions team directly to check.

24 July 2024

CCC reached out to Ben Kennedy, Collections and Permissions Manager, Oxford University Press, for her perspective on this question.   

For in-person events, I advise using the maximum capacity of the room/auditorium to estimate the potential number of attendees. Taking this approach will ensure the license covers the reuse. For satellite symposiums with both in-person and remote attendees, be sure to include both attendee groups when clearing permissions. Estimating virtual numbers can be challenging, especially if pre-registration information isn’t available. I recommend using historical attendee data as a guide. If actual attendee numbers are higher than anticipated, contact the rightsholder with the final numbers. The rightsholder can consider issuing an amendment to the permission.

17 July 2024

CCC reached out to Natalie Qureshi, Global Permissions Manager at Elsevier, located in the UK, for her perspective on this question.    

My advice is to request the information from the journal’s contact person at the point of article submission to the journal. If print circulation is not available, my perspective is that the number of downloads would be an appropriate alternative statistic to share with the rightsholder when requesting permission as most journals are now available in print and online. 

10 July 2024

CCC reached out to Renee Castro, Senior Permissions and Copyright Coordinator at Envision Pharma Group, a global organization, for her perspective on this reader question. Renee’s reply follows below.

A single congress presentation, shared in various formats, requires a permission for each format. For example, in the case of a hybrid presentation, I would seek permission for both live and virtual reuse. Many publishers understand that congress presentations might end up on websites after the event and uploading to a congress website is most often considered an additional form of reuse, which could potentially impact permission costs. Since publishers have varied policies regarding reuse, each one must be informed about the extent of content reuse to appropriately price the permission.

For publishers using CCC’s permissions channels, either RightsLink for Permissions or Marketplace, users have the option to select various formats for content display, such as “reuse in a digital presentation” and “posting on an unrestricted website” under the “medical communications” type of use. However, for publishers with their own permission processes, you will likely need to manually provide this detail to ensure they’re aware of website postings.

3 July 2024

CCC reached out to two MedComm professionals representing different agencies (MC1, MC2) for their perspective on this rightsholder question. Due to the sensitive nature of the question, we’ve provided their anonymous feedback below.    

MC1: In our approach, we begin with the Master Services Agreement (MSA) established with clients. If the MSA states that the client is responsible for obtaining licenses to use any copyrighted materials, we advise during the content development stage when and how such permissions should be sought but obtaining the relevant license(s) is handled by the client. If a request is made for us to manage the permissions to use copyrighted materials, the budget would be adjusted accordingly to account for anticipated permissions costs.  

 MC2: In my work, permission costs are either:   

 1. Specifically excluded in the budgets/pitches we provide to clients. We explain that permissions fees would be in addition to the estimated budget, especially when we don’t know how many permissions will be needed.  

 2. Included in budgets as an assumption (estimated number of permissions multiplied by an average cost). We inform the client that costs can vary widely depending on publisher, adaptations, and final use. 

26 June 2024

CCC reached out to Erin Callahan, Senior Director, Information and Content Solutions, for her perspective on this question.  

For the vast majority of rightsholders who offer permissions for reuse of content in a MedComm project, including conference presentations, the questions you must answer are standardized in Marketplace and RightsLink for Permissions. When seeking permission to use content in a presentation, be prepared to provide the following information: 

• The name of the conference  
• Projected number of attendees
  • We recommend looking at the attendee numbers for the previous years’ event as an indicator. And let the rightsholder know that is how you’ve estimated the audience size—sharing the reasoning will be helpful  
• The structure/format for the event  
  • Is it a live, virtual, or hybrid event?  
• And how the presentation may be shared after the live event And how the presentation may be shared after the live event   
• Will the deck including the copyrighted content be distributed to attendees after the conference? Will a recording of the presentation be available? Will it be posted on a secured or unsecured website?     

19 June 2024

For her perspective on this question, CCC reached out to Elizabeth Jennings, Associate Editorial Director at Lucid Group, based in the UK. Liz’s reply follows below.   

I think there are three aspects to this question; the first is about who owns the copyright now it’s been published; second, is it just the data that the researcher wants to use? This begs the question, “Can the data itself be copyrighted?”; the third is about the creative expression of the data.      

So, who is the copyright holder? Once published, the rights are often (but not always) transferred to the publisher. This needs to be checked with the rightsholder – this must be followed up through their permissions route. Can data be copyrighted? Technically, no – individual data, as a factual piece of information, is not copyrightable; however, the creative expression of facts can be. For example, average temperatures in London may not be copyrightable as facts, but a specific graphic using illustrations to represent each numeric temperature may be copyrightable because it’s an original creative expression of those facts. To be safe, my advice is to follow the pathway that yes, permission would need to be sought from the publisher. 

12 June 2024

Chloe Olore, Education Program Specialist at CCC, provides her perspective on this reader question below. 

Yes, copyright regulations differ between countries. All countries have their own copyright laws and requirements; there is no one international copyright law.  There are, however, several international treaties that cover copyright law. These international treaties encourage reasonably coherent protection of copyright from country to country. They set minimum standards of protection which each signatory country then implements within the bounds of its own copyright law. 

This means that, when using content globally, you must consider both applicable international treaties as well as the national laws of the country where the content is created and will be shared. Also consider the licenses and subscriptions that a company has invested in and, of course, compliance with the company’s copyright policies. All these elements must be factored into any decision about reusing, sharing and/or publishing content internationally. 

If you’d like to learn more about these treaties, please visit our copyright education page on International Copyright Treaties.  

Please consult with your organization’s legal counsel about the copyright policy in your country and how that policy may vary in different countries. 

5 June 2024

CCC reached out to Elizabeth Jennings, Associate Editorial Director at Lucid Group, based in the UK, for her perspective on this reader question. Liz’s reply follows below.  

As strategic partners, our clients expect us to be diligent. It’s essential that we, as medical communications professionals, proactively communicate and have a clear understanding of policies that may affect our work and the partners we work with. In this scenario, I would try to arrange a conversation with my client and a member of the company’s legal team to discuss the definition of “redraw” and how to apply the guidelines to the specific use case while ensuring that we remain compliant with copyright law and any other limitations. It can take a little courageous curiosity, but these discussions can result in an amendment to the initial guidance from the client, and even a company refresh on copyright basics!     

29 May 2024

Chloe Olore, Education Program Specialist at CCC, provides her perspective on this reader question below. 

One of the core principles of copyright is that different uses of a work correspond to different rights. The different reuses have different impacts, which means the rightsholder usually makes different decisions based on the specific permission requested. The type of use, duration, sharing method and audience size are all factors that will affect the type of permission required.  

For instance, acquiring permission to reuse an article as part of documents being submitted to the FDA is a different type of reuse than publishing the article in a quarterly external newsletter. The permission that was, hypothetically, granted to reuse the article in an FDA doc does not also automatically grant additional permissions to reuse that article in a newsletter, mailing or any other different type of reuse. 

22 May 2024

CCC connected with Leslie Lansman, Global Permissions Manager at Springer Nature, based in the UK, for her perspective on this reader question. Leslie’s reply follows below. 

Whether you create a digital copy or redraw a piece of content by hand, you are making a reproduction of someone else’s work. It is a false myth that you can ‘escape’ copyright by changing a few things around. Whenever you copy a work, or any portion of a work, whether it’s a figure, table, text extract, or audio/visual content, you have to deal with copyright guidelines. Adding, changing, or deleting even just a few elements of a protected work does not change the fact that you need to seek permission to reuse that content. The right to modify the material belongs to the rightsholder.    

Certain types of content, such as tables, may contain individual pieces of data (i.e. facts) that may not receive copyright protection; however, the selection and arrangement of that data in the table potentially may be copyright (or database) protected. Generally, I recommend that if you reuse the same selection and arrangement of data, you should seek permission.   

You should also never presume that supplementary material is not under copyright protection. Any literary work including abstracts, technical reports, compilations, graphs, manuals, footnotes, or software may be protected by copyright and it is always best to ask permission before reproducing such materials. If you need to adapt or modify published content, or if you have questions as to whether a particular element is protected by copyright, it is important to raise these concerns with the publisher.   

Quick Tip: If placing a request to modify (i.e. change any element/transfer to a different format/translate) and reuse content:  

• Be sure to understand why the content is being modified and by whom so you can clearly discuss your intended use case with the rightsholder. It is important you explain to the publisher that any modification is not intended to change the meaning of the original work. Explain to the rightsholder the modifications made and the reason for those modifications.    
• Be prepared to identify what is original versus what has been altered. 

15 May 2024

Brian Goode, Sr. Product Solutions Manager at CCC, provides his perspective on this question below. 

When working on projects that involves multiple permission requests, it’s helpful to use the project tools now offered in CCC Marketplace for license options such as “reuse in a medical communications project.”  This workflow allows customers to describe their project details once and apply them to each item for which permissions are required.  The project tools help manage permissions requests from multiple rightsholders in one view, making it easier to track the cumulative cost of purchased licenses, check the status of items whose requests are being reviewed by the rightsholder (usually the publisher), etc. I encourage you explore the Marketplace Resource Center to view the Project Builder tutorial and other videos. 

8 May 2024

CCC reached out to Elizabeth Jennings, Associate Editorial Director at Lucid Group, located in the UK, for her perspective on this reader question. Liz’s reply follows below.   

These are murky waters! I would advise clients against redrawing a figure without first consulting the rightsholders. Although there aren’t universal guidelines, it’s fair to assert that tracing a figure is not permitted in most cases. If your client insists on redrawing, talk to the rightsholder, then send the proposed redrawn figure to them, along with the reuse details, for review. The rightsholder will determine whether the reuse requires permission.      

1 May 2024

Chloe Olore, Education Program Specialist at CCC, provides her perspective on this reader question below. 

While there is no overarching rule for every situation, in my opinion, redrawing a creative figure, table or infographic simply to avoid the copyright permissions process is not advisable. 

24 April 2024

CCC reached out to Leslie Lansman, Global Permissions Manager at Springer Nature, based in the UK, for her perspective on this reader question. Leslie’s reply follows below. 

When reproducing content online, the content is potentially available to anyone anywhere with internet access. Therefore, it is my view that ‘worldwide’ is the most suitable response when specifying the area of distribution in a license for content posted on the open internet. However, in some cases, access to the content may be limited. It may be shared on an internal server available only to employees in a certain location, geo-blocked or otherwise “locked” behind a password. In such a scenario, a publisher may offer limited rights. If you plan to limit access, be sure to inform the rightsholder the location of the limited audience for the content. If in doubt, always check with the publisher.   

17 April 2024

Chloe Olore, Educational Program Specialist at CCC, provides her perspective on this inquiry below.

If you have content that you would like to reuse, ask yourself the questions below to make sure the permission you request will cover your intended reuse.

• Where did the content come from? What do you want to do with the content? The type of use, the duration, sharing method and audience size are all factors that will affect both the type of permission, as well as the pricing.
• Do your due diligence. If you came across an image from a source that allows for user uploads or user generated content (e.g., social media sites, Google Images, certain stock photo or video sites, etc.) double check the source of the image. Sometimes the uploader or source of an image may not be the proper rightsholder. It is recommended to always make sure you’re getting content from a known entity or legitimate source.

Gathering this type of information up front will help to ensure you’re requesting the appropriate permission for your intended use.

10 April 2024

CCC reached out to Leslie Lansman, Global Permissions Manager at Springer Nature, based in the UK, for her perspective on this reader question. Leslie’s reply follows below. 

Publishers work across the landscape of educational and non-profit entities providing licenses for the reuse of their content in everything from classrooms to theses. You should always reach out to the licensor to discuss what permission may be required.   

That said, the commercial degree of reuse may affect what type of license is necessary as well as any associated fees, so it is important to understand to what extent a particular reuse is commercial. The nature of the user is not the only factor when determining if something is non-commercial: governmental, non-profit, and for-profit organizations may all engage in commercial reuse of published material. What matters to the rightsholder is how the content is being reused and in what context.   

Rather than thinking of commercial versus non-commercial uses, I find it helpful to think of a sliding scale where reuses motivated by highly commercial interests (i.e., marketing a new drug) exist on one end, and reuses motivated by less profit-making interests (i.e., supporting non-branded medical education) on the other. It’s important to understand the nuances of these use cases. If a non-profit medical educational organization wishes to reuse a graphic in a continuing education course, the rightsholder will likely want to understand the MedComms/pharmaceutical partner’s involvement in the course creation and promotion.  What is the MedComms client’s purpose for the reuse and the goal of the course? The more details supplied to publisher, the better the publisher can ensure correct licensing practices are followed.

3 April 2024

Elizabeth Jennings, Associate Editorial Director at Lucid Group and Chloe Olore, Education Program Specialist at CCC provide their perspectives on this reader question below.    

Liz: The terms and conditions received as part of the license should specify this. If you want to specify an audience size, this option is available and is sometimes the more cost-effective option. Be mindful that the details you enter into the request last for the life of the license so if you specify one type of use, you are tied to this and can’t reuse the standard in other projects without securing additional permissions to do so.  

Chloe: Duration and audience size are two separate concepts.  A main principle of copyright is that the rightsholder of a work has the right to authorize or prohibit certain types of uses of their work. If a rightsholder wants to keep their rights but let people use them in a more limited manner, they can license use of their works for certain purposes.   

In these licenses, the rightsholder can set the conditions for how copyrighted content can be used in most cases, and can decide how much the use will, or will not, cost. Different uses of a work correspond to different rights and can have different impacts, which means the rightsholder usually makes different decisions based on the specific permission requested. Another factor in a reuse situation like this is whether the audience in question is internal or external, most licenses will specify between those two types of sharing as well. There could be a license that allows for an audience of any size under their terms and conditions, but it cannot be presumed that will always be the case.   

27 March 2024

CCC reached out to Leslie Lansman, Global Permissions Manager at Springer Nature, based in the UK, for her perspective on this reader question:

Insight:  I advise that you consider copyright implications whenever you reuse someone else’s created content. Sharing a copy amongst co-workers or colleagues is a type of reuse and will often require permission. If so, I recommend gathering answers to the following questions and sharing that information with the rightsholder when you request permission to reuse content for internal use:

• How is the content going to be shared internally? (Email, internal network, cloud storage, etc.)
• What measures are in place to ensure the content is not publicly disseminated?
• Will the content be available for download?
• How will you inform employees that the content is not for wider dissemination?
• Will the content be stored indefinitely?
• Is the content being used as an internal resource or as part of a one-off event (e.g., internal training).

4 March 2024

CCC reached out to Elizabeth Jennings, Associate Editorial Director at Lucid Group, located in the UK, for her perspective on this reader question. Liz’s reply follows below.

This is a common and sensitive scenario. I find clients are more often unaware of copyright requirements rather than attempting to circumvent them. My approach is to share with clients a concise presentation that explains basic copyright law and details why it is important to follow these regulations. I include in the presentation some common myths about content reuse that I have encountered over the years. I then dispel those myths in concise language and walk through steps the client can take to ensure compliance. I recommend that you also highlight the potential challenges the client and your agency could face if copyright requirements are not followed.

For help developing resources to broaden your clients’ understanding about copyright, I encourage you to listen to a webcast I participated in with a fellow medical communications professional, experienced rightsholders, and CCC’s General Counsel. The discussion delves into common myths about reuse in medical communications. You and your clients can also get a good overview of basic copyright law by listening to CCC’s complimentary educational webcast, Copyright at Work.

4 March 2024

CCC reached out to Elizabeth Jennings, Associate Editorial Director at Lucid Group, located in the UK, for her perspective on this reader question. Liz’s reply follows below. 

I advise you to secure quotes for all content (text, graphs, etc.) that the presenter anticipates they may want to include in the final presentation as early in the process as possible. Once the presentation is finalized, you can filter out what you don’t need and move forward with securing the permission you do need. CCC’s Marketplace project workflow is a great way to gather the quotes, put them on hold, and then remove the unneeded requests before purchasing the permissions for the final presentation. It is much more efficient to act on the held quotes when the deck is finalized. In my experience, in most cases, you will receive an invoice for the purchase within 48 hours, most rightsholders consider the invoice date as the start date for license coverage. If you’ve discussed a specific arrangement with the rightsholder, you may wish to get their confirmation in writing. 

4 March 2024

Chloe Olore, Education Program Specialist at CCC, provides her perspective on this reader question below.

Copyright doesn’t protect works created only by machines or mere mechanical processes that operate randomly or automatically without a human’s creative input. As the US Copyright Office has explained, “the crucial question is ‘whether the ‘work’ is basically one of human authorship, with the computer [or other device] merely being an assisting instrument, or whether the traditional elements of authorship in the work were actually conceived and executed not by man but by a machine.” In its explanation, the Copyright Office specifically called out medical imaging produced by x-rays, ultrasounds, MRIs, or other diagnostic equipment as falling into this unprotectable category. Please keep in mind that copyright guidelines vary from country to country.

4 March 2024