Protocol methodology for permission release in the construction of a written corpus

Copyright issues or permission releases for written data remain vague and difficult to comprehend. Overall, the construction of a corpus involves a multitude of mediums, namely books, periodicals, published materials and non-published materials. Problems arise when a chosen medium involves published materials that are protected under copyright acts. Therefore, this article highlights a protocol for obtaining permission release on written data to facilitate the construction of a corpus. This protocol was designed based on the concept of BNC corpus construction and adapted to the Malaysian copyright protocol framework (MyIPO). The construction of this protocol serves as a source of reference for data ethics at the Corpus and Forensic Linguistics Unit, Faculty of Languages and Communication, which is located at Sultan Idris Education University. The findings of this protocol highlighted nine pertinent steps for releasing copyright permission for written corpus. The implication of establishing this protocol are first, researchers are able to utilize textual data without forfeiting the copyright acts; second, owners of creations are protected from exploitation and finally, legal practitioners are able to enforce the owners’ copyright appropriately. Overall, this methodology: • Facilitates the permission release process for any copyrighted written data; • Assists and preserves copyright laws, which allow written data to be used only through the proper channels; • Protects researchers from any legal implications related to copyright acts concerning written data.