Copyright in Medical Communications
Industry Insights

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.   

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