Copyright Policy

Qatar University Library complies with all applicable laws regarding intellectual property (IP). Faculty members, staff, students at Qatar University, and all library users are to comply with Law No. 7 of 2002 in protecting the author’s copyright and other neighboring rights relevant to the law of the State of Qatar.

The IP Law is enforced to cover all works in their various forms. The following IP policy explains the usage rules of all known library information resources (paper /electronic).

Anyone who makes unauthorized copies of any information source, whether material or electronic and whoever uses these sources in an irresponsible manner will be deemed violating the IP Law and related rights and will be susceptible to the sanctions as stated in the law terms.

First:  Printed Sources:

1.1 Photocopying or reproduction for users {Law No. (7) Article (21) of 2002 to protect the author’s right and the neighboring rights to the law of the State of Qatar}:

The Law on the Protection of Copyright and the Neighboring Rights has identified in Article No. (21) regarding photographing or reproducing works protected by the law. All libraries and non-profit educational institutions have been exempted from this law under the condition that photocopied sources are used for the sole purposes of scientific research, studying and learning. The justified limits for this purpose are subject to the following conditions:

• Reproduction is limited to one time, and if repeated, on separate and unrelated occasions.
• The reproduction is allowed for research and teaching purposes and to facilitate research and learning activities.
• The name of the author and the title of the work shall be indicated as far as practicable on all copies.
• The reproduced work should be a published article, a summary, or an extract of work.
• It is not permitted to photocopy more than one chapter from a book or separate parts of a book provided that the reproduced pages do not exceed 10% of the total book.

1.2 Photocopying or reproduction by a library or an archive house ( Law No. 7, Article (21) of 2002 for the Protection of Copyright and neighboring rights to the law of the State of Qatar.

A single copy of the work may be reproduced by a library or archive as long as that does not gain any profit as follows:

1. Where the reproduced work is a published article, a summary or an extract of work where  reproduction is to satisfy the needs of a natural person provided that:
   1. The the library or the archive house undertakes that the copy will be used solely  for the purposes of study, scholarship, or research; and if repeated, on separate and an unrelated occasions.
   2. There is no collective license available for reproduction by a competent authority in the collective management of rights of which the library or archive house is or should be aware of.
2. The reproduction is permitted where the copy is made with the aim of preserving the original copy or, when necessary, replacing a lost , destroyed or rendered unusable copy in the permanent collection of another similar library or archive house, provided that:
   1. It is impossible to obtain this copy under reasonable conditions.
   2. The act of reprographic reproduction is an isolated case.

Second: Non-printed / Electronic Library Information Sources:                                                

• Usage of all non-printed / electronic library information sources is governed by the licensing agreement based on non-profit use by faculty members, students and university employees. In addition, the use of these sources is limited to the purposes of education and research only as described in {Law No. (7) Article (21) of 2002 to protect IP and neighboring Rights by the law of the State of Qatar}. These Information sources must be accessed within classrooms, by using operating stations in the libraries, by using the university network, or by using a licensed database, which is restricted to an account and password.
• Only one copy of these sources can be kept as an archival material.
• Libraries, being non-profit entities, can lend these sources for non-profit purposes only.