Copyright & ethical terms of reuse
Copyright & Your use of the Qatar Digital Library Website
The audio, video, text, images or other material made available on this website "the Site" by the Qatar Digital Library to you (collectively, the "Content") is either: protected by third-party rights such as copyright or trademarks (for which the Qatar Digital Library is permitted to make available to you), is copyright to Qatar Digital Library, or are materials which are in the public domain or made available under a Creative Commons licence.
"Public Domain content": the Content on the Site marked "Public Domain" consists of Content from the Qatar Digital Library’s collections, which the Qatar Digital Library believes are in the public domain in most territories. Content marked “Public Domain” indicates that the Qatar Digital Library is unaware of any current copyright restrictions on the Content either because: (i) the term of copyright has expired in most countries or: (ii) no evidence has been found that copyright restrictions apply.
"Creative Commons content": the Site contains Content for which (i) the Qatar Digital Library owns copyright or database rights and wishes to share Content without restriction in support of its mission of supporting access to knowledge, or (ii) have been licensed by third parties under a Creative Commons licence.
Other than where permitted, no part of the Content maybe sold, resold, licensed, transferred, copied or reproduced in whole or in part in any manner or in or on any media to any person without the prior written consent of the Qatar Digital Library. The Qatar Digital Library does not warrant that the sharing of Content, including Public Domain or Creative Commons content will not infringe upon the rights of third parties. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright and other use conditions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of the Content.
Where Content comprises of Public Domain and Creative Commons content we shall endeavour to make same Content available for re-use under the same conditions and to label the material with statements that indicate if, and under which conditions it can be re-used. You agree to abide by all copyright notices, licence conditions, restrictions attached to the Content and agree not to remove or alter any notices, conditions, forms of identification, or dedications, if required not to.
Crown copyright
Works prepared or published by or under the direction or control of Her/His Majesty or a government department qualify for Crown copyright protection under section 163 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and are available for reuse under the terms of the Open Government Licence.
Crown copyright applies to works created by civil servants, diplomats, ministers and members of the armed forces when acting in an official capacity
Any translations of materials in the Qatar Digital Library made by officers or servants of the Crown in the course of their duties qualify for Crown copyright protection and may be used in accordance with the Open Government Licence.
For more information on Crown Copyright please visit the National Archive’s Crown copyright page.
Ethical Terms of Reuse
The digitised collections in the Qatar Digital Library include cultural materials, which should not be altered or used in ways that are likely to cause offence to originating communities or communities providing the materials.
This would include offence to the present-day communities and custodians of, traditional knowledge, craftsmanship, oral traditions and include but not be limited to expressions, social practices, rituals, festive events, lyrics, music, stories or performances embodied in the material.
While the contributors to Qatar Digital Library, may be the owner of intellectual property in the materials themselves or the works may be in the public domain, the Qatar Digital Library recognises that broader rights and interests in intangible cultural heritage, including traditional knowledge and other creative expressions embodied in the materials may, under national, customary, religious and other laws or practices, reside with the traditional custodians of such materials.
Therefore the prior informed consent of the Qatar Digital Library, host institutions or other contributing third parties, as well as the traditional custodians is required for the commercial use of part or the whole of these materials.
The Qatar Digital Library takes considerable care not to distort or alter this underlying material in any way that may be deemed inappropriate. In the event, however, that any community or community representative feels aggrieved by the making available of these materials, the Qatar Digital Library invites such community to contact us in order to resolve the matter amicably through mutual discussion.
The Qatar Digital Library would like to thank the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) for their help in creating this Ethical Usage Policy.