If you cannot find an answer to your question, please send it to us by email at neuvonta(a)kopiosto.fi.
Kopiosto only provides information about copyright on a general level. Consequently, we are unable to comment on individual cases.
If you upload photos, images or texts to your website, they are made available to anyone who visits your website, which extends the use of these works beyond private use. In terms of copyright, uploading these works constitutes making them available to the public, which requires the author’s or another copyright holder’s authorisation.
Photographs or other images can be cited in scientific presentations (e.g. theses) or critiques (e.g. critique of a thesis in a journal) if the image in question is addressed in the text and the citation is justified on the grounds of illustrating or clarifying the presentation.
However, the cited images cannot be the main thing and must, instead, be present to illustrate or clarify the text. Providing a publication with illustrations is not allowed by referring to the right of quotation or citation. For example, an image that is loosely related to the subject of the text cannot be used as an illustration in a publication based on the citation right.
Whenever a work is quoted, the source of the quotation, which normally includes the author’s name and quoted work, must be mentioned.
Pirated products cannot be imported to Finland even for private use. Importing even a single pirated product (e.g. a music album, book, film, game) is a criminal offence. In addition, importers of pirated products are required to hand over the products to the state and compensate the author and other related copyright holders.
A licence is not required in most cases, if the photographs and/or the poster are visible in the background of the material you have shot or if they can be considered secondary to the entire work.
Copyrights remain valid for the duration of the author’s life and 70 years from the end of the year of their death. The work may be used freely without a licence once the duration of protection has ended.
The duration of protection of works with joint authorship is defined according to the year of death of the last surviving author. The end of the term of protection of films is defined according to the year of death of the last surviving main director, screenwriter, dialogue writer or composer of music created for the film.
The duration of a photograph’s copyright protection is 50 years from the end of the year the photo was produced. It is worthwhile noting that, in some cases, photographs can cross the threshold of originality. The term of such photographs’ copyright protection is the same as other works’ duration, which is the duration of the author’s, or photographer’s, life and 70 years from the end of the year the photographer died in.
The right of quotation is a limitation to authors’ exclusive rights, which means that quotations are allowed under certain terms laid down in legislation. Due to the nature of the right of quotation, the right is exercised commonly in scientific work, educational environments and when criticising an author’s work. Quotations can also be made in other contexts. Only works made available to the public by the author or another party with the author’s authorisation, can be quoted. Quotations must be used in an appropriate context that refers to the quoted work. In other words, quotations must fulfil their so-called complementary role.
The maximum allowed length of a quotation or “the extent necessary for the purpose of use” is not defined by law, but it must be evaluated on a case by case basis. A general rule is that quotations should not be of considerable length, but on the other hand, they should not be so short that they give a false impression of the quoted work.
Whenever a work is quoted, the source of the quotation, which normally includes the author’s name and quoted work, must be mentioned.
The right of quotation does not allow taking excerpts or aphorisms from an author’s work for the sole purpose of arousing interest. Nor does a collection consisting only of quotations fulfil the complementary role required of legal quotations as the quotations are not used to illustrate a point made in the original text. Consequently, such quotation collections are not allowed to be published. Exceptions to this rule include book advertisements, where quotations from reviews are generally considered to be allowed.
In cases that do not follow the right of quotation criteria listed above, the right to use text written by another requires an authorisation from the author or another copyright holder.
These conditions constitute a public performance, which requires the copyright holders’ authorisation. Rental and purchased films are intended for private use only. Recording TV broadcasts can also be performed only for the purposes of private use. Consequently, the presentation of a film in other circumstances than private use requires a licence, regardless of the method used to acquire the film.
The rights to public performances of films are generally held by film production companies, the authorisation of which is required. In addition, a Teosto licence is required for the music used in the film.
M & M Viihdepalvelu Oy is the Finnish representative of the public performance rights of major foreign film companies. The company offers rental films for public performance events and the film performance licences for a wide range of foreign films.
Enquiries about performance licences for Finnish movies can be sent to Audiovisual Producers Finland – APFI ry.
In principle, modifying a work by creating translations or adaptations, for example, requires an authorisation from the original author. The authorisation is not required in cases of free adaptations. Free adaptation refers to a situation where a work created by someone else is used as a source of inspiration and a new, independent and original work that cannot be recognised as the original work is created by modifying the original work.
The requirement of a legal source is a key element of private copying. The source of copying must be legally produced (e.g. an original CD or book) or communicated with the copyright holder’s authorisation (e.g. Free-to-air TV broadcasts). Copying an illegal source is completely prohibited. For instance, works distributed in peer-to-peer networks (musical works and films) are illegal sources.
Producing copies is allowed only for private use. These copies cannot be used for other purposes later on either. If you sell music albums, books or films you have copied, you are committing a copyright infringement. This infringement may result in criminal liability or liability for compensation.
Both criminal and civil penalties may be imposed for copyright infringements. The maximum penalty for a copyright infringement is a two-year prison sentence.
Fines can also be imposed as a penalty for copyright infringements. The maximum penalty for illegal circumvention of technological measures and offering such services of circumvention is a one-year prison sentence.
In addition to criminal liability, the person who commits a copyright infringement is liable to compensate the copyright holders for the unauthorised use of their works and any possible damages. The compensation liability does not depend on negligence. The copyright holders must be compensated regardless of whether the person who commits the copyright infringement is aware or unaware of the legality of their actions. The compensation is a one-time remuneration by its nature, and its sum is in accordance with the price of the corresponding licence to use the works legally. Liability for damages is subject to intentionality or negligence. In addition, the works produced without authorisation and the devices used in the copyright infringement may be ordered to be destroyed.
Effective technological measures protecting a work are measures implemented to protect a work with the author’s consent. An effective technological measure means technology which, in the normal course of its operation, prevents or restricts acts concerning a work without the author’s or other copyright holder’s authorisation and by means of which the protection objective is achieved. Effective measures cannot be circumvented accidentally. The act only prohibits the circumvention of effective technological measures.
According to the Copyright Act, the protection can be circumvented for the purpose of listening or watching a legally purchased physical copy of a work, but not for the purpose of copying.
According to the Copyright Act, anyone can produce a limited number of copies of a published work for private use. The scope of private use includes home environments and closest acquaintances.
Copies produced for private use cannot be used for other purposes. Selling them, for instance, is strictly prohibited. The copying of works other than films and musical works can also be assigned to another party.
Producing copies of computer software and digital databases for private use is not allowed.
A work is considered to have been published once copies of the work have been legally distributed to the public, for example whenever copies of a work have been put on sale with authorisation. Works made available to the public with authorisation can include, for instance, works that have been legally uploaded to an online service to be accessed by the public or artworks that have been made public.
There is a lot of online material equipped with the CC licence. The author has allowed the use of this copyrighted material under their conditions. CC licenced material can be used according to the licence terms indicated by the icons used in the context of the material. More information about the CC licence can be found at www.creativecommons.fi.
The © symbol is an international symbol used in front of the name of an author or another copyright holder in the context of copyrighted works. The © symbol indicates the copyright holder of a work. Please note that the existence of a copyright or being protected by copyright does not require the use of the © symbol. A copyright is applied to a work, when it is created. Registering the work or other formalities, such as using the © symbol, are not required.
There are no established forms of using the © symbol. The most common form of using the symbol is “Copyright © the name of the author or copyright holder and the first year of publication”.