Cases are protected by international copyright law. They may not be altered, copied, reproduced, faxed or e-mailed without the express permission of the copyright owner or his/her agent. Copyright exists to protect intellectual property, but it carries with it responsibilities and it is important that case authors are aware of these.

In most instances, where a case is written by an employee in the course of his/her employment, it is the employer who retains copyright. If an employee desires the copyright in a case to be transferred to him/her, this is a private matter that he/she must resolve with his/her employer. However, royalties can only be paid by ecch to member organisations. Authors, such as lecturers who also work as consultants, may have more than one employer or may have prepared a case outside the course of his/her employment. Such authors must reach written agreement with all employers on who retains copyright; this will usually be the institution at which most of the work on the case was carried out. ecch requires copies of these agreements.

If the case is based upon other published material or is a reworking of a source, such as another case in the ecch catalogue, this must be clearly referenced on the cover page of the case and stated on the registration form. Guidelines on academic conventions and bibliographic referencing

Finally, authors are required to gain permission from the subject organisation to release the finished case for distribution. ecch requires a copy of this permission document.

Submitting a case to ecch does not transfer copyright to ecch, which acts as the agent of the copyright owner. ecch accepts no liability for any infringement of copyright in materials it distributes or for any libellous material contained in a case. Responsibility for both rests solely with the submitting organisation or author, who will be required to indemnify ecch for any losses incurred as a condition of case submission. For additional information and sample permission documents please download the case submission pack. ecch staff are always pleased to assist authors with all these issues.