ARTICLE H 6. COPYRIGHT IN UNITED NATIONS
PUBLICATIONS,
PERMISSION TO REPRINT, AND PERMISSION TO PUBLISH
OUTSIDE THE UNITED NATIONS
CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . 495
II. PRACTICE
REGARDING COPYRIGHT, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
III.
PERMISSION TO REPRINT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
IV. PERMISSION
TO PUBLISH OUTSIDE THE UNITED NATIONS . . . . . 497
The principles with regard to
copyright in United Nations publications and the procedure for obtaining
copyright are set forth in administrative instruction ST/AI/189/Add.9.
Attention is called to the following policy matters set forth therein
I. GENERAL
PRINCIPLES
The United
Nations does not normally retain copyright, its policy being rather to
facilitate dissemination of the content of its publications as widely as
possible by all reasonable means. General retention of copyright would give an
impression of restriction and of setting up a procedural barrier ‑
namely, the need to request permission to use material. Exceptions to the
general practice have however been made in the case of certain publications.
The decisions of the Publications Board in such cases have been taken after
considering whether there was a need to impose a measure of control on certain
types of United Nations material in order to ensure that it should be used in
the best interests of the organization.
The
copyright publications include material in the statistical, scientific and
other specialized technical fields ‑ in many cases supplied to the United
Nations by or with the co‑operation of Governments of Member States which
would not have been prepared to furnish the same information to commercial
publishers. Such material can often be reproduced by commercial publishers at
relatively low cost, by photo‑offset or other reproduction methodsf in
the case of translations into languages in which the United Nations does not
itself publish, only such items as column headings, sub‑titles and
explanatory notes require translation. In some cases, the decision to copyright
has been based mainly on financial considerations.
Some publications have been copyrighted in order to
secure the co‑operation of outside publishers) the Yearbook of the
United Nations was copyrighted for this reason and the practice has been
continued since the United Nations itself became the publisher.
The rules set forth
below govern United Nations practice regarding copyright in its publications as
well as the procedure which should be followed in order to obtain copyright.
II. PRACTICE REGARDING
COPYRIGHT
As a general rule, documents
bearing a United Nations symbol or working papers that have been distributed
before copyright protection is.sought are regarded as being in the public
domain and cannot be protected by subsequent copyright. When it is anticipated
that the proceedings will include papers
issued first as documents or working papers, the decision to copyright
should be made before the individual papers are reproduced for distribution,
even to participants, in order that the necessary copyright notice may be given
on each individual paper.
Articles or papers prepared by
staff members for inclusion in a United Nations publication, or as a
contribution to a conference or seminar, are covered by the terms of staff rule
112.7, which provides:
"All rights, including title, copyright
and patent rights, in any work performed by a staff member as part of his or
her official duties shall be vested in the United Nations."
Members of the Secretariat requiring guidance on copyright matters in respect of
United Nations publications should apply to the Secretary of the Publications
board, who, apart from any other action to be taken, will see that any ,legal
question is at once brought to the notice of the Office of Legal Affairs.
Permission to reprint is usually given freely by the
United Nations. Each request must however be considered on its own merits. The
following factors must be taken into
(a)
The nature and quality of each publication for which
the request is made.
(b) The source of the United Nations
material (for example, if material issued by the United Nations was used by
permission of an outside author, it may be necessary to obtain clearance from
the author or outside publisher for the reprint)
(c) The United
Nations' own plans for the material (for example, if an article is issued in
mimeographed form and the United Nations intends to edit it and include it in a
publication, it would not be desirable to have the unedited version reprinted
elsewhere).
It is
usually not necessary to include in a United Nations publication a statement
concerning permission to quote or reprint material from it. Where such a
statement is considered necessary, the following formula may be used
Material
in this publication may be freely quoted or reprinted but acknowledgement is
requested, together with a copy of the publication containing the quotation or
reprint.
Requests
for permission to reprint should be referred to the Secretary of the Publications
Board.
IV.
PERMISSION
TO PUBLISH OUTSIDE THE UNITED NATIONS
If
a United Nations official is given permission to publish an article or book
about any aspect of United Nations activities, he may not express views that
are not compatible with those of the organisation. A disclaimer of the views
and opinions expressed should not therefore normally be required.
Article H 6