The electronic journals, books and databases to which the HES-SO libraries subscribe have terms and conditions set out in licence agreements that HES-SO signs with each provider/publisher. It is the responsibility of individual authorised users to ensure that their use of electronic resources does not infringe copyright and conditions specified in these licence agreements.
Licence agreements
Licence agreements vary from one publisher to another, but the following rules generally apply :
Authorised uses
- access to electronic resources by authorised users: HES-SO students and staff, and persons present in library buildings.
- uses consistent with the mandatory provisions of Swiss Federal Act on Copyright and Related Rights (CopA), for example copying for private use or modifying the format of the resource for reasons of accessibility.
- using e-resources for personal or academic usage (studies, teaching, research) : viewing, downloading, copying, printing, and saving a copy of individual documents (article, book chapter) or search results.
- sending a copy of an article to another authorized user (HES-SO students and staff).
- posting the URL of an e-resource in a classroom on Moodle.
- extracts of works may be shared between a teacher and his or her students in class or in a virtual classroom on Moodle, in accordance with the exception for educational purposes in Swiss Copyright Act.
Prohibited uses
- transmitting, disseminating, or making content to unauthorized users (i.e. sending to mailing lists or posting to a public website)
- use of robots or other tools to do systematic, bulk, or automatic downloading.
- systematic downloading or printing of entire journal issues or volumes, or large portions of other e-resources.
- use or transmission of e-resources to third parties for commercial purposes, whether in print or electronic medium. Third parties are also external platforms, in particular ChatGPT, DeepL or other AI platforms, where storage and future use are determined by third parties.
- removing, obscuring, or modifying any copyright or other notices included in the materials.
- upload content (PDFs, etc.) from e-resources to Moodle. Only extracts of works may be shared, and direct links to e-resources are permitted.
Failing to comply with these rules and any use beyond these limits may result in the publisher suspending access to the resources for the entire HES-SO community, and legal liability for the institution or end users.
Text and Data Mining (TDM) and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The use of electronic resources for text and data mining may be restricted or prohibited by licence agreements. Article 24d of the Copyright Act is not a mandatory provision, which means that licence agreements take precedence over this exception for research purposes.
The scope of AI rights may vary from one publisher to another, but generally do not allow for use or training of their content with public versions of AI tools.
If you plan to use the electronic resources for text and data mining and/or in combination with AI technologies, please contact CISO or your library in advance for more information about governing terms.
Elsevier agreement 2024-2028 : Artificial Intelligence (AI)
For the first time, conditions for the use of subscribed content (closed or CC-BY-NC-ND publications) with artificial intelligence have been defined for Elsevier journals in the 2024-2028 licence agreement. These terms apply exclusively to Elsevier journals:
Open access publications with a CC-BY license can be used with any kind of available AI tool, may be used for the development and training of any AI tool and the results including the content can be freely shared.
Licensed content (closed publications) or Open Access publications with a restrictive CC-BY-NC-ND license, where Elsevier owns all rights or some key rights such as the right to create derivatives, may not be used with open versions of an AI tool that reuse the entered data. The sharing of licensed content with third-party providers is prohibited.
Licensed content (closed publications) or Open Access publications with a restrictive CC-BY-NC-ND license, where Elsevier owns all rights or some key rights such as the right to create derivatives, may be used :
Results generated or platforms developed with the help of AI may be published and made available for research and teaching, provided that they do not contain or reproduce content from closed or CC-BY-NC-ND publications. Links to closed publications are permitted.
The commercial use of AI-generated content or platforms is prohibited. |
Coypright
The Swiss Federal Act on Copyright and Related Rights (CopA) regulates the rights and duties of authors and users of works in Switzerland. It applies to all works, whatever their format, and not just those accessible online through library subscriptions.
Anyone creating content to be made public must respect the basic rules of citation and have requested permission from publishers or authors to reproduce works (images, graphs, etc.) or important parts of works.
Here are some helpful sources on copyright issues:
- Website of the Competence Center in Digital Law "CCdigitallaw"
- Libguide of the Geneva Graduate Institute library
- Guides and resources on citation of HES-SO libraries (non-exhaustive) : Médiathèques de la HES-SO Valais ; Infothèque de la HEG Genève ; Bibliothèque de la HETSL ; Bibliothèque de la HEDS Genève ; Bibliothèque de la HEIA Fribourg ; Bibliothèque de l’HEPIA ; Bibliothèque de l’HESAV ; Centre de Documentation de La Source ; Infothèque de la HETS Genève
- EPFL Library Fast Guides and the "Rational Bibliographic"
- Website of the Data Management Law Tool "DMLaw Tool"
Do not hesitate to contact your library for any question.