Congregation

In what situations do I need a copying licence?

Many online materials and printed materials are protected by copyright law. In the operations of a congregation, the copyright holder’s authorisation is needed to be able to copy and distribute or store them in digital format. You can request permission directly from the authors and publishers of the materials or obtain a copying licence from Kopiosto.

A congregation’s copying licence allows for the legal use of materials, for example, when you want to

• copy and scan sheet music and song lyrics for church services, devotionals and club activities,
• display material on a wall or screen at a free event organised by a congregation with fewer than 200 participants (at a church service or devotional, for example),
• copy and scan articles from newspapers and magazines and excerpts from books, scientific publications, reports and other printed publications,
• copy and print images and text from the internet,
• distribute copies as paper copies or printouts in the congregation’s activities,
• distribute copies via email to members of the organisation,
• create summaries of newspaper and magazine articles and share them within the congregation in digital form,
• attach images, articles and other excerpts of texts to your own presentation, internal memo or an equivalent mode of communication,
• store the copies in the congregation’s closed internal network, such as the intranet, so that they can be accessed by the congregation staff only.

The Church Board and parishes of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and the Church Board of the Finnish Orthodox Church have entered into agreements with us regarding copying. Other congregations can procure a copying licence through our licence store.

Acquiring a licence

You can conveniently purchase continuous or fixed-term licences through our licence store. The price of a licence is calculated according to the congregation’s number of members. It is based on our surveys on the amount and content of copying. The licence period always changes every calendar year to the new year. You can manage your licence later by logging into the licence store with your credentials.

Updating a continuous licence

A licence that is valid until further notice must be updated between 1 November and 31 January, if

• the size category of the congregation changes (size categories are 1–500 members or more than 500 members),
• the licence has been obtained for a specific number of members exceeding 500 people, or the membership number changes from the previously announced number by over 50 members.

If the size category does not change and the change is less than 50 members, the licence will automatically continue with the previously reported information.