When organizations are prompted to think about copyright risk, the conversation often starts this way: “So, what happens if we are infringing copyright?”
It's an important question as the financial and reputational risks surrounding copyright infringement can be significant. However, it’s not the only one that should be asked.
How about:
For most organizations, the answer to these questions is no.
A recent national Canadian research study found that 91% ofworkers regularly access published content to help them do their job. This includes news articles, industry reports, research articles, standards, websites, and images.
Employees rely on this content to make decisions, conduct research, train colleagues, communicate with co-workers and clients, and to keep their skills and knowledge up-to-date.
It’s not that employees are deliberately ignoring copyright as they copy and share content. The research indicates that most aren’t thinking about it at all. If they do, the permissions attached to the content they are using are often unclear and difficult to navigate, making copyright infringement a hidden risk for organizations.
This leaves key decision-makers uncertain about how employees can legally copy, share, and store content within their organizational workflows.
Permissions vary by publisher or content subscription, and in many cases, the terms of use are unknown. Add in how content is used through Teams, Slack, SharePoint, presentations, training, AI tools, and other platforms, and the uncertainty grows exponentially. It’s both a compliance and a governance issue.
The good news is that there are practical measures you can take to mitigate this risk at your organization.
Many companies have established copyright policies and education programs.
They also invest in copyright licensing to simplify permissions by adding an additional layer of blanket protection. Rather than relying on employees to interpret terms and conditions, copyright licensing makes it easy to remain compliant by applying a consistent set of permissions for copyright-protected content your organization has purchased or subscribes to.
This reduces uncertainty, ensures compliance, and allow semployees to focus on doing what they do best.
That's where we can help.
Access Copyright is a not-for-profit organization that helps organizations simplify permissions while reducing risk through a cost-effective, blanket copyright licencing solution. We provide pre-cleared permissions to millions of published works such as key industry publications, magazines, journals, and newspapers from around the globe.
Contact us to learn more.
