JK Rowling offers teachers open licence amid COVID-19 pandemic
JK Rowling, author of the “Harry Potter” series, has offered an open licence to teachers, relaxing the usual copyright permissions required to post videos reading the books aloud.
In a tweet, Rowling announced that she was “delighted to help teachers reach kids at home”. UK schools shut their doors on Friday, March 20, in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Rowling and her literary agency The Blair Partnership have relaxed copyright permissions, meaning that teachers anywhere in the world are now permitted to post videos of themselves reading from any of the seven “Harry Potter” books onto schools’ secure networks or closed educational platforms from now until the end of the school year.
However, the videos featuring the readings (or clips from these) should not be posted on YouTube or other social platforms, or used for any commercial purpose, according to guidelines issued.
Rowling said that the open licence is the first of several initiatives being planned to help bring Harry Potter to children at home.
Publishers including Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins and Scholastic have all relaxed their copyright policies, allowing teachers to post video recordings reading aloud from their books.
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