COPYRIGHT LICENSES

We are generally content to let people use and reproduce most of the Crown copyright material we produce free of charge, provided they reproduce it accurately and do not use it in a misleading context. We simply ask that they acknowledge it as Crown copyright. For further details of our copyright position please click here.

In some limited cases, however, we may wish to exert greater control over the re-use of Crown copyright material originating from the Agency. This is done through licensing arrangements.

Licence for supply of services/data

Special reports and services issued at customers' request by our Marketing and Business Development Directorate are supplied subject to a Licence which incorporates the terms and conditions of use of our services/data. There is no charge for the Licence which will be issued by our Business Development Manager.

The Forms Licence

Our Forms Licence is a licence that we issue to people who want to include our registration application forms in their software packages (such as case management systems) that they sell to solicitors and others. It lasts normally for 5 years.

To see our Forms Licence, please click here.

If you wish to apply for a Forms Licence, there is no formal application form. Simply put your request in writing (letter, fax or e-mail) to:

Bill Carracher
Customer Relations Manager
Registers of Scotland
Meadowbank House
153 London Road Edinburgh
EH8 7AU

Phone 0131 659 6111 ext. 3943
Fax 0131 479 3688
e-mail bill.carracher@ros.gov.uk

Please state:
your name, contact address (including postcode) and telephone number;
exactly what you want;
why you want the information.

Our standard charge for a Forms Licence is £120.00 inclusive of VAT, which allows us to recover our administration costs. This fee is payable in advance. We reserve the right to charge a higher fee, based on time-and-line recording of a senior member of staff, if you ask for extensive changes to the standard version of the Forms Licence. Charges for staff time are based on an hourly rate. The normal hourly rate for a senior manager for 2006/07 is £43.87.

The Tailored Licence

There may be other situations in which we would want to issue people with copyright licences before we allow them to reproduce our material. These situations are very unusual but are indicated by special copyright notices on our material. For examples of such notices, please click here. We will tailor a licence specially to meet our and your requirements in these situations. In order to recover our costs, we reserve the right to charge you a fee for preparing and issuing the tailored licence, based on time-and-line recording of a senior member of staff. Charges for staff time are based on an hourly rate. The normal hourly rate for a senior manager for 2006/07 is £43.87.

If you wish to apply for a tailored licence please write to Bill Carracher at the address above.

Please give details of:

your name, contact address (including postcode) and telephone number;
exactly what you want;
why you want the information.

Licensing procedures

The Forms or tailored licence will be despatched to you for signing before a witness. When you and the witness have signed it, please return it to the Keeper. On its return it will then be signed on the Keeper's behalf by an officer at Senior Manager level or above, before a witness. After it has been signed it will be registered in the Books of Council and Session. No registration fee is incurred. Two extracts will be issued. One extract will be sent to you as the licencee and the other will be retained on file by our Customer Relations and Business Development Directorate.

General information

If you have any general questions about our licensing procedures please e-mail bill.carracher@ros.gov.uk

Information Fair Trader Scheme

The Information Fair Trader Scheme is a means to ensure Government departments trade in an open, transparent and fair manner and that government policy on the re-use of Crown copyright is implemented.

Further information about the Information Fair Trader Scheme can be found at :

http://www.hmso.gov.uk/copyright/regulation/ifts.htm

To be recognised as an Information Fair Trader an organisation has to demonstrate that it is committed to the fair trader principles. Registers of Scotland has successfully passed the verification process.

Click here for information on the Keeper's Commitment to the Information Fair Trader Scheme.

To see Registers of Scotland's Interim Policy Statement on Crown copyright, please click here.

Complaints

If you are not satisfied with our service and have a complaint about the licensing arrangements, please in the first instance write to Bill Carracher at the address above. All complaints about our licensing arrangements will be fully and fairly investigated. If you are not satisfied with the way your complaint was resolved or has been dealt with, you may appeal to the Manager of the Business Unit:

Pete Carruthers
Customer Relations and Services Manager
Registers of Scotland
Meadowbank House
153 London Road
Edinburgh
EH8 7AU

e-mail: pete.carruthers@ros.gov.uk

If the appeal does not meet your expectations, you may contact the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland, Mr James Meldrum, who is Chief Executive of the Agency at the same address.

Alternatively, you may e-mail: james.meldrum@ros.gov.uk

Click here for further information about the Agency's complaints procedures

If you remain dissatisfied, you can ask the Office of the Queen's Printer for Scotland (OQPS) to investigate the matter. OQPS is the Government Department which manages and regulates the use and licensing of the reuse of all Crown copyright material originating from the Scottish Administration. OQPS has given Registers of Scotland delegated authority to licence other people to reproduce Crown copyright material originated by RoS.

OQPS can be contacted at:

HMSO
Admiralty Arch
North Side
The Mall
London
SW1A 2WH