Pretty much any creative work is someone's intellectual property. Anything that you create using your mind (e.g. an essay, a lab report, a presentation, a work of art, an email) is your intellectual property. This means that normally others cannot copy, share or adapt your work unless you give them permission.
Copyright is a type of intellectual property that is protected by the law. Copyright protects works such as books, articles, websites, software, images, film and music. Copyright laws define what is protected, for how long, what exactly people can do or not do with a work, and who owns copyright. Copyright laws vary across countries. What you do with materials while based in the UK is defined by UK copyright law.
Know your rights. As a student at UCL you will normally own the copyright to materials that you produce, there may be exceptions to this. Please check UCL's IP policy for details.
Respect other people's rights. To use works that are other people's copyright, you normally need their permission. This includes materials created by your lecturers or materials that are free to download on the internet, such as images and videos you find on Google or on YouTube.
In some cases, permission may not be necessary. You don't always need permission to reuse someone else's work. Find out more about exceptions on our Copyright for students webpage.
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