Note: Information contained within these pages is intended as general guidance only. This information is not intended to be, and should not be, relied upon as legal advice. If you have any questions regarding copyright, you should consult a legal adviser specialising in intellectual property law.
Before reading this blog, please bear in mind that this is just an introduction to Copyright on Tes and it does not include all the information you need to be made aware of with regards to sharing resources correctly on Tes. Please visit our full Copyright section of the author academy for more detailed information and to make sure your resources are staying on the right side of the law.
Ownership of content
Teachers who upload to Tes must accept responsibility as the owner of the materials they publish on the website - this is built into the upload process and resources do not go live without it.
Respect for each other's work is crucial. As with many hosting platforms and marketplaces, content is not monitored as it goes live on the site. Where content is found to include copyright infringement, this is clear misuse of the site’s terms and conditions and is unacceptable.
Below we have highlighted some of our most frequently asked questions around the topic of Copyright on Tes:
What is copyright?
Copyright protects an author’s ownership rights to their work. It can exist in different types of works, including texts, images, photographs, art, poetry, plays, music and films. Copyright can, therefore, exist in resources uploaded to the Tes Resources platform.
Subject to certain exceptions, copyright entitles the copyright owner to control the use and distribution of a protected work by any other persons, whether it is a whole work that is used or just a substantial part. They can sometimes do this by sharing a piece of work under a certain licence.
After a certain period of time, copyright expires and works go into the public domain. Any person can use a work in the public domain without obtaining the prior consent of the original owner.
This website discusses copyright under English law. You will need to ensure that you comply with the copyright laws of any other countries in which you upload or download resources.
What does copyright mean for my resources?
It means that you must check that you own the copyright to all content in your resources before you upload them to Tes Resources. If you do not own the copyright, then you must:
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either obtain the prior consent from the copyright owner to upload them
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or ensure that you can rely on certain permitted uses under applicable law
Please familiarise yourself with our updated content standards and guidance on licensing along with our terms. Otherwise, you could be liable for infringing the copyright of another person.
Does copyright apply to both free and premium resources?
Yes. Copyright laws apply to anything you upload and share on the Tes platform as your resources become accessible to others. There are some differences in what you can share for commercial and non-commercial purposes, so it is important to check the licence for each individual piece of work you want to use. Some images, for example, may be available for download and use in non-commercial projects, so you might be able to include these in your free resources. Others, however, might be licenced for personal use only, which means that you cannot use them at all in any of the work you upload on Tes.
Resources shared under Creative Commons licences will be restricted for reuse depending on the type of licence chosen.
Does copyright apply to my shop name and profile picture?
Yes. Certain short phrases are trademarked, which means that you cannot use them as your shop name. When you set up your own shop, you should use a name that is, to the best of your knowledge, unique to you. This will not only help you as far as copyright is concerned, but it will also make you stand out among other resource developers who have a similar name. Read more about this in the Author Academy.
The same rule applies to your profile picture, shop image and resource cover images. It is important to ensure the images used are not another party’s logos or images that are copyright protected.
How can I register my work under copyright?
Once you make and share a resource, it is automatically copyright protected under international law. However, many authors use the international copyright symbol along with their name and date when the resource was created to further protect their work (for example, © Suzy Adams 2018). It is also good practice to notify the downloader or purchaser about the licence under which your resource is shared. Read more about licences on Tes here. Finally, another good idea is to add a credit page at the end of your resource. This will let downloaders know exactly how they can and cannot use your resource.
What licences can I choose from when I share resources on Tes?
When uploading resources on the Tes platform, you can choose whether you want to share them for free or make them available for purchase. In each case, it is important to be clear about how you want people to use your resource.
We ask that every free resource uploaded to the Tes site is given a Creative Commons licence. Creative Commons is a public copyright licence created to support the spirit of sharing for free in an open internet. The use of a Creative Commons licence means an author can give people the right to share, use and build upon a resource that they have created. There are lots of CC licences to choose from, but we have decided to offer the three that best apply to your resources.
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Share alike (CC-BY-SA)- Share and share alike.
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Attribution (CC-BY)- Share openly.
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No derivatives (CC-BY-ND)- Share, but don't modify.
Premium resources are shared under our Tes Teaching Resource Licence. You can read more about this licence here.
We would like to reiterate that the above list is just an introduction to copyright and only just begins to cover some of the basics. Please refer to our full author academy Copyright section here for more detailed information.
Would you like to test your Copyright knowledge? Our short 10 question quiz will help you to ascertain your level of understanding here.