COPYRIGHT BASICS
Purpose of copyright, who owns copyright, duration, getting
permission, infringement, copyright overseas.Copyright is a law
that applies to forms of expression or content such as text, images
and music. It enables people who create and invest in content to
manage how others use the content. Copyright applies to the content
automatically; there is no requirement to register or go through
any other formal process.The purpose of copyright is to provide an
environment that fosters the creation of new content for the
benefit of society of a whole. It does this by: providing an
incentive for the creation of new content, by enabling those who
create and invest in new content to set the terms on which others
can use the content. Those terms can (but may not) include payment.
enabling reward to people who have created content that others find
valuable, and lack the skill or time to produce for themselves.The
government-appointed committee whose report led to the introduction
of Australia's current Copyright Act said:The primary end of the
law on this subject is to give to the author of a creative work his
just reward for the benefit he has bestowed on the community and
also to encourage the making of further creative works.
In order to achieve its objectives, the copyright system treats
different types of uses of content in different ways. Some uses
require the permission (licence) of the copyright owner, enabling
the copyright owner to set the terms of use. Some uses do not
require permission, but do require fair payment under statutory
licences. Some uses do not require permission or payment: see
here.INFORMATION FROM AUSTRALIAN COPYRIGHT COUNCILThe Australian
Copyright Council publishes information sheets and detailed guides,
offers a legal advice service and runs an annual training
program.
COPYRIGHT MYTHSThere's quite a bit of misunderstanding about
copyright and how it works. Test your knowledge against these
common myths and misconceptions.The following information is for
guidance only. It is not legal advice.IF THERES NO COPYRIGHT
NOTICE, ITS NOT COVERED BY COPYRIGHTCopyright automatically applies
to written and artistic works from the moment theyre created. You
dont have to do anything to obtain copyright. The copyright notice
(+ name of copyright owner + year) is an internationally recognised
signifier that a work is protected by copyright.IF ITS UNPUBLISHED,
COPYRIGHT DOESNT APPLYCopyright applies to published and
unpublished content. As soon as a work is fixed in some way (e.g.
on paper, or saved to disk), its covered by copyright.IF ITS ON THE
INTERNET, ANYONE CAN USE ITCopyright is not waived when you publish
text or images on the internet. You can decide how you would like
people to use your online content. Guidelines for using online text
and images usually appear on a websites terms of use page.I DONT
NEED PERMISSION IF I COPY LESS THAN 10%Using even a very small part
of someone elses work can require permission if that part is an
important or integral part and was the result of skill and time.
There are some provisions in Australias copyright law that allows
the use of 10% without permission in special circumstances. For
example, students can use 10% of a work for their research or
study, and educational institutions can use 10% of a work under the
statutory licence for education.I DONT NEED PERMISSION TO USE A
WORK IF I MAKE CHANGES TO ITMaking changes doesnt take away the
need to get permission. If you use an important part of someone
elses work you might need permission, even if you make changes to
it. You also need to be careful that you do not make changes to
someone elses work that they may regard as derogatory.I CAN USE
OTHER PEOPLES CONTENT PROVIDED I CREDIT THEMYou have a legal
obligation to credit the author when you use their work, unless the
author has agreed not to be credited, or it is not reasonable to
credit them. Using a work for the purposes of criticism, review or
reporting news is conditional on crediting the author and title of
the work. However, including a credit doesnt preclude obtaining
permission in all circumstances.I CAN USE OTHER PEOPLES CONTENT
WITHOUT PERMISSION PROVIDED I DONT MAKE MONEY OUT OF IT.You usually
need permission even if your use is non-commercial. The content
creator may set different terms for non-commercial use (e.g. a
different fee) but you still need to ask.IF I PAY SOMEONE TO CREATE
SOMETHING FOR ME, I OWN THE COPYRIGHTIf the content creator is on
staff, and the work is created during their employment as part of
their job, usually the employer owns the copyright. If, on the
other hand, the content creator is an independent contractor, then
they will usually retain copyright unless there is something in
writing transferring copyright to you. If you have not made an
agreement about how you may use the material, you would usually be
entitled to use it for the purposes it was commissioned for, but
may not be entitled to use it for other purposes.
GETTING PERMISSION IS DIFFICULT.It neednt be. It is a good idea
to think about what will be easy to clear for use before you select
the content. Depending on your need, Copyright Agency|Viscopy may
be able to assist you with a clearance. While Copyright Agencys
main business focus is on blanket licences for internal use in
organisations and institutions, we also offer pay-per-use licences
for text and images (now with an automated online facility for
newspaper content).THE RIGHTS REVERT TO ME WHEN MY BOOK IS OUT OF
PRINT.This depends on your contract. If your contract is not
explicit about rights reversion, you may need to seek legal advice
(e.g. from the Australian Copyright Council). Publishing contracts
generally have a provision for rights to revert to the author when
the book is out of print, but youll need to check the definition of
out of print. Also, you may need to send the publisher written
notice asking for reversion of rights.I NEED TO REGISTER MY BOOKS
WITH COPYRIGHT AGENCY IN ORDER TO RECEIVE A PAYMENTRegistering your
books with Copyright Agency does not increase your likelihood of
attracting a payment. It simply assists our researchers. Copyright
Agency payments are allocated to works that are recorded as being
used by our licensees in routine sample surveys. If those works
happen to be registered in our database, it makes it easier for our
researchers to identify the rights owners entitled to
payment.EDUCATION AND PUBLIC LENDING RIGHTS PAYMENTS ARE THE SAME
AS COPYRIGHT AGENCY PAYMENTS.No, theyre different. Copyright Agency
payments are for copying and sharing of content under licences
managed by us. These licences apply in a range of sectors,
including education, government and business. The Education and
Public Lending Rights (ELR/PLR) schemes are Australian Government
cultural programs administered by the Department for Regional
Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport. The schemes are
designed to compensate authors and publishers for the potential
loss of sales revenue due to the borrowing of their books from
educational and public libraries.INFORMATION FROM AUSTRALIAN
COPYRIGHT COUNCILThe Australian Copyright Council publishes
information sheets and detailed guides, offers a legal advice
service and runs an annual training program. June 2013
WHAT COPYRIGHT COVERS
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Copyright applies to the following: text (e.g. in books, journal
articles, reports, webpages) images (e.g. photographs, artistic
works, graphs) video and moving images (e.g. films, videos,
television commercials,vodcasts) audio recordings (e.g. music
recordings, radio programs, podcasts) computer programsUnder
Australia and most other countries, copyright automatically applies
as soon as the content is created and 'fixed' in some way (e.g.
written down, recorded, saved to disk). There is no requirement to
register or go through any other process.WHAT COPYRIGHT MEANSOwners
of copyright have exclusive rights to use their content in certain
ways: e.g. to reproduce it or make available online. People who
want to use other people's content thus have to get permission (a
licence) from the owner of copyright.This information is for
guidance only. It is not legal advice.MORE FROM AUSTRALIAN
COPYRIGHT COUNCILThe Australian Copyright Council publishes
information sheets and detailed guides, offers a legal advice
service and runs an annual training program.Information sheets
include: An Introduction to Copyright in Australia Ideas: Legal
Protection Databases, Compilations, Tables & Forms Maps &
Charts Names, Titles & Slogans Quotes & ExtractsProtecting
Your Copyright COPYRIGHT DURATION Copyright lasts for different
periods depending on a number of factors including the type of
material, when it was created, when the creator died and when it
was published.
COPYRIGHT DURATION
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Copyright lasts for different periods depending on a number of
factors including the type of material, when it was created, when
the creator died and when it was published.Copyright periods can
also vary from country to country.In general, copyright in text,
images and music lasts for 70 years after the year of the creator's
death, even if the creator does not own copyright. The period was
extended from 50 to 70 years in 2005, but only for content that was
still in copyright on 1 January 2005.When copyright in a work has
expired, it is often referred to as being in the public domain or
out of copyrightIn Australia, copyright has expired in:work typeout
of copyright if:
photographtaken before 1955
all workspublished before 1955 anonymously, or under a
pseudonym, andcreator cannot be identified by reasonable
enquiry
artworkscreator died before 1955, except'engravings' not
published before 1955
text workscreator died before 1955, providedwork was also
published before 1955
government text, musical works, photographs, engavingswork
published more than 50 years before the beginning of the current
year (e.g. in 2012, work published before 1962), andcopyright owned
by government (Commonwealth, State, Territory), orwork made for
government, orwork first published by government
government artworks (except photographs, engravings)work made
more than 50 years before the beginning of the current year (e.g.
in 2012, work made before 1962), andcopyright owned by government
(Commonwealth, State, Territory), orwork made for government,
orwork first published by government
Note: the chart above is not comprehensive (e.g. it does not
cover audiovisual content) copyright in an unpublished work can
last indefinitely one item can contain many separate works: e.g. a
book can contain a number of text works, and a number of artworks,
all with different creators and different periods of copyright
protection a translation of work is protected by copyright
separately from the original: a translation may be protected by
copyright even if the original work is out of copyright similarly,
an arrangement of a musical work can be protected by copyright
separately from the original: an arrangement may be protected by
copyright even if the original work is out of copyright the
artists' resale royalty right lasts for 70 years after the year of
the artist's death: an artwork can be out of copyright, but
eligible for resale royalties.This information is for guidance
only. It is not legal advice.MORE FROM AUSTRALIAN COPYRIGHT
COUNCILThe Australian Copyright Council publishes information
sheets and detailed guides, offers a legal advice service and runs
an annual training program.Information sheets include: 'Duration of
Copyright'27 July 2012
WHO OWNS COPYRIGHT
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FIRST OWNER OF COPYRIGHTAs a general rule, the first owner of
copyright in a work is the creator, unless the creator has assigned
copyright in advance (e.g. to a client or a publisher).Where,
however, there is no agreement about who owns copyright, the
following will be the first owner of copyright: the creator's
employer, if the creator is an employee (not a freelancer) and
created the work as part of their job a client who commissions a
portrait, private photograph (e.g. of a wedding), video or audio
recording the Commonwealth or a State if the material was created
for, or first published by, a Commonwealth or State government
department or agency.Where the work is the product of collaboration
copyright may be jointly owned.SPECIAL PROVISIONS FOR STAFF
JOURNALISTSThere are special provisions for employed journalists.
Unless there is an agreement to the contrary, employed journalists
own copyright in relation to photocopying, and inclusion of their
work in a book. More here.SPECIAL PROVISIONS FOR OLD MATERIALIn
some cases, the rules vary for old material. For example, there are
different provisions for commissioned photographs taken before July
1998, and works created by employed journalists before July
1998.DIFFERENT OWNERS FOR DIFFERENT COPYRIGHT RIGHTSDifferent
people can own different copyright rights in a work. For example,
one person may own copyright for reproducing the work as a
printedbook, and another for publishing online.OWNERSHIP OF
COPYRIGHT CAN BE TRANSFERREDOwnership of copyright rights can be
transferred from one person to another by assignment, and when a
person dies (under the person's will, or under the rules that apply
when someone dies without a will).Identifying the current owner of
copyright often requires identifying the first owner of copyright
and any subsequent transfers of ownership.ONE ITEM CAN HAVE MORE
THAN ONE COPYRIGHT OWNER One item can contain many separate works,
each with a different copyright owner. For example, an anthology
contains works by different authors, each of which may have a
different copyright owner. Similarly, the copyrights in images in a
book may have different owners. GETTING PERMISSION
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WHY DO YOU NEED PERMISSION?The Copyright Act gives authors,
publishers, journalists, visual artists and others legal rights to
control certain uses of their content by others. This includes
reproducing the content in various ways, making it available
online, and emailing it.Generally, if you want to copy or share
someone elses work, you are likely to need permission (also
referred to as a licence) from the copyright owner unless: the
copyright has expired a special exception or statutory licence
(e.g. for educational or government use) applies.LICENCES FROM
COPYRIGHT AGENCY|VISCOPYCopyright Agency|Viscopy can give licences
on behalf of its members for a variety of uses including: 'blanket'
licences to businesses for a range of use of text and images by
staff 'pay-per-use' licences for 'one-off' uses, such as for
newspapers and artworksLICENCES DIRECTLY FROM A COPYRIGHT OWNERIn
other cases, you may need to contact the copyright owner directly.
The copyright owner may refuse permission. If they do give a
licence, there may be conditions such as payment and
acknowledgement. For matters commonly covered in licences, see
here.WHO TO GET PERMISSION FROM?For information on who owns
copyright, click here.In some cases, there can be more than
rightsholder in the content you want to use. For example, if you
wanted to reproduce text and images from a book, different people
may own the rights in the text and images respectively.This
information is for guidance only. It is not legal advice.MORE FROM
AUSTRALIAN COPYRIGHT COUNCILThe Australian Copyright Council
publishes information sheets and detailed guides, offers a legal
advice service and runs an annual training program.Information
sheets include: Permission: Do I Need It?Permission: How to Get It
INFRINGEMENT
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A person can infringe copyright by doing something that requires
a copyright clearance with the copyright owner's permission
(licence). The Copyright Act allows certain uses of content that
would otherwise require a copyright clearance: more here.You can
infringe copyright by using part of a work if the part is
'substantial' in copyright terms. If you use part of another work
that resulted from sufficient skill and effort, you can infringe
copyright even if it is not a proportionally large part.You don't
necessarily avoid infringement by making changes to another
person's content: the question is whether you have appropriated
something that resulted from someone else's skill and effort rather
than the skill and effort you have added.You can also infringe
copyright by: authorising or facilitating an unlicensed use by
someone else importing articles containing infringing copyright
material selling infringing articlesOTHER BREACHES OF THE COPYRIGHT
ACTOther things that can breach the Copyright Act include:
circumventing a mechanism that controls access to digital material
selling, importing or manufacturing circumvention devices removing
or altering rights management information in digital files failing
to attribute (or falsely attributing) the creator of a work
changing or doing something else with a work that damages the
creator's reputation or is offensive to the creator This
information is for guidance only. It is not legal advice.MORE FROM
AUSTRALIAN COPYRIGHT COUNCILThe Australian Copyright Council
publishes information sheets and detailed guides, offers a legal
advice service and runs an annual training program.Information
sheets include:Infringement: Actions, Remedies, Offences &
PenaltiesInfringement - What Can I Do?
EXCEPTIONS The Copyright Act includes exceptions to infringement
that allow uses of copyright material without
permission.EXCEPTIONS
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The Copyright Act includes exceptions to infringement that allow
uses of copyright material without permission.Some exceptions
commonly relied on are:purposeconditions/requirements
a person's research or studyarticle from a periodical; orif
'work' published as edition': 10% of pages or a chapter; orif
'work' in electronic form: 10% of words or a chapter; oruse is
otherwise 'fair' having regard to factors in the Copyright Act
criticism or reviewuse is 'fair'; andacknowledgement
parody or satireuse is 'fair'
reporting the newsuse is 'fair'; andnews is in a newspaper,
magazine or similar periodical with sufficient acknowledgement;
ornews is in a film; ornews is 'communicated' electronically (e.g.
available on a website or broadcast)
professional adviceprofessional advice by legal practitioner,
patent attorney or trade marks attorney; anduse is 'fair'
judicial proceedingsfor a judicial proceeding or report of a
judicial proceeding
'space shifting' of musicyou own a copy of the music (e.g. a
CD)you make a copy solely to play on a device you own (e.g. an
iPod) in private
'time shifting' of broadcastsyou record a broadcast from
television or radio solely to watch and/or listen to later, in
private
'format shifting'you own a photograph, book, newspaper,
periodical or videotapeyou make a copy in a different format for
your private use
MORE ON ABOVE EXCEPTIONSSee Australian Copyright Council
information sheets: Research or Study Fair Dealing: What Can I Use
Without Permission Parodies, Satire & Jokes Copying &
Converting Formats for Private UseExceptions to Copyright
STATUTORY LICENCES The Australian Copyright Act contains
provisions that allow certain uses of content without a copyright
clearance, subject to fair payment. These provisions are known as
statutory licences. They are also sometimes referred to as
compulsory licences or legal licences. STATUTORY LICENCES 0 Tweet
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The Australian Copyright Act contains provisions that allow
certain uses of content without a copyright clearance, subject to
fair payment. These provisions are known as statutory licences.
They are also sometimes referred to as compulsory licences or legal
licences. The Australian Government has appointed Copyright Agency
to manage the statutory licences that allow educational and
government use of text, images and music scores. The Government has
apppointed Screenrights to manage the statutory licences that allow
educational and government use of broadcast content (e.g.
television and radio programs), and retransmission of free-to-air
broadcasts.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY Copyright is one form of 'intellectual
property'. Other forms include patents, trademarks and confidential
information.INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
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Copyright is one form of 'intellectual property'. Other forms
include patents, trademarks and confidential
information.Intellectual property rights are legal rights to
control other people's use of things embodying ideas and creative
output.These rights mean there is a legal obligation to get
permission (a licence) from the holder (owner) of intellectual
property rights to make certain uses of things resulting from
others' intellect, such as inventions, branding, and creative
expressions.Intellectual property rights include copyright rights
in things such as text, music and images; patent rights in
inventions; trade mark rights in trade names and logos; and design
rights in features of functional designs.While there is no
registration process for copyright protection in Australia, there
are registration processes for other forms of intellectual
property: patents, trademarks and designs. Registration is managed
by IP Australia, and there is information about these and other
areas of intellectual property on the IP Australia website.This
information is for guidance only. It is not legal advice.MORE FROM
AUSTRALIAN COPYRIGHT COUNCILThe Australian Copyright Council
publishes information sheets and detailed guides, offers a legal
advice service and runs an annual training program.Information
sheets include: Ideas: legal protection Names, titles & slogans
Logos: legal protectionDesigns for functional articles
MORAL RIGHTS There are legal obligations to attribute (credit)
creators, and not to treat their work in a derogatory way.MORAL
RIGHTS
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There are legal obligations to attribute (credit) creators, and
not to treat their work in a derogatory way.Moral rights are rights
provided to creators under copyright law in order to protect both
their reputation and the integrity of their work.
In Australia, moral rights were introduced in December 2000
through the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000. This
legislation provides creators with three rights. They are: the
right of attribution of authorship; the right not to have
authorship of their work falsely attributed; and the right of
integrity of authorship. This protects creators from their work
being used in a derogatory way that may negatively impact on their
character or reputation.Moral rights last for the same time as
copyright in a work, the term of which is usually the creators life
plus 70 years.WHY ARE MORAL RIGHTS DIFFERENT?Copyright is designed
to protect the economic rights of copyright holders. In comparison,
moral rights protect the reputation and integrity of creators. So
while Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) manages copyright, and
monitors the reproduction and communication of works, it does not
monitor the moral rights of its members.
As a creator, you retain your moral rights even if you do not
own the copyright in your work. Moral rights can only be held by
individuals, so corporate entities and organisations cannot claim
moral rights in a work.WHAT TYPE OF WORKS DO MORAL RIGHTS APPLY
TO?Moral rights apply to a wide range of works including: artistic
works - including drawings, paintings, sculptures, graphs; musical
works; dramatic works - including plays, film scripts; written
material - including novels, textbooks, poems, songs, journal
articles; computer programs; and films.WHAT WOULD BE CONSIDERED AN
INFRINGEMENT?There are numerous ways that moral rights can be
infringed. They include: not attributing a work to its rightful
creator or falsely attributing the work to someone else;
reproducing a falsely attributed work; treating a work in a
derogatory fashion. This can include distorting, mutilating or
materially altering the work; and dealing commercially with or
importing a work that had been treated in a derogatory fashion.If
an infringement occurs the creator of the work is entitled to take
legal action.CAN I SELL OR TRANSFER MY MORAL RIGHTS?No. Unlike
copyright, moral rights cannot be transferred or sold. This said,
moral rights will not be infringed if a creator has consented to
their work being used in a particular manner. This is called
creators consent. This consent must be in writing and needs to
specifically detail the way the creator will allow the work to be
used. It may apply to current or future works, and employees are
able to give their employer a general consent for works created in
the course of their employment.ARE THERE ANY DEFENCES TO
INFRINGEMENT?Yes. There are cases where either not attributing a
creator or treating a work in a derogatory manner would not
constitute a breach of moral rights. These include creators
consent, as well as reasonable use.
The Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) provides a defence to
infringement if the use of a work was reasonable. There are a few
considerations in determining what constitutes reasonable. These
include: the nature of the work; the purpose for which it was used;
whether the work was created while in employment; if there are two
or more authors, their views about how the work was used or
attributed; and relevant industry practice.WHAT IS RELEVANT
INDUSTRY PRACTICE?The law takes into account that different
industries operate in ways where strict adherence to moral rights
is not practical. A good example is the advertising industry where
large groups of people work on single advertisements. It would be
very difficult to meet the right of attribution by listing in
advertisements every single person involved in the creative
process.This information is for guidance only. It is not legal
advice.MORE FROM AUSTRALIAN COPYRIGHT COUNCILThe Australian
Copyright Council publishes information sheets and detailed guides,
offers a legal advice service and runs an annual training
program
LENDING RIGHTS The Public Lending Right (PLR) and Educational
Lending Right (ELR) Schemes and how they differ from licences
managed by Copyright AgencyLENDING RIGHTS
The Public Lending Right (PLR) and Educational Lending Right
(ELR) Schemes and how they differ from licences managed by
Copyright AgencyThe Public Lending Right (PLR) and Educational
Lending Right (ELR) schemes are Australian Government cultural
programs administered by the department responsible for the arts
(currently the Department for Regional Australia, Local Government,
Arts and Sport). The schemes are intended to compensate authors and
publishers for the loss of potential sales income due to their
books being available for use for free from public and educational
lending libraries, and are not copyright payments.There is more
information on PLR and ELR schemes here.The licence schemes
administered by Copyright Agency differ from the PLR and ELR
schemes in a number of important respects.These include: the
licence fees allow the use of copyright content that would
otherwise require a copyright clearance the licence schemes cover
the use of both Australian and foreign the distribution of licence
fees reflects the usage of content by licenseesmost of the content
used in under the education licences is content that has been
produced for the education sector.
ASSIGNING, LICENSING
Copyright owners may assign or license these rights to others.
Assignment of copyright and licences can include a number of
limitations and conditions. These can include limitations on the
type of use that can be made of the work, the period of time for
which a licence applies and requirements for payment.More:
Copyright terms of use for websites Creative Commons licencesThis
information is for guidance only. It is not legal advice.MORE FROM
AUSTRALIAN COPYRIGHT COUNCILThe Australian Copyright Council
publishes information sheets and detailed guides, offers a legal
advice service and runs an annual training program.Information
sheets include: Assigning & licensing rightsCompetitions
LICENCE TERMS
Whether you are granting or getting a licence (clearance), it is
always a good idea to record the details of the licence in writing.
It is also a good idea to date the written record of the licence,
and have it signed by both the licensor and licensee.The document
recording a licence would usually include the following: who the
rightsholder is and your details, including relevant names and
contact details use letterhead if appropriate; precisely identify
the material to be copied, including which part or parts of the
work you want to copy, page numbers, chapter titles, or any
artworks included. This avoids confusion later, and allows the
rightsholder to quickly identify the work, especially if they
control a lot of material (such as a publisher); how the material
is going to be used, including information such as number of copies
made, who they will be distributed to, where they will be
distributed (for example, to staff in overseas offices) and whether
the work will be distributed free of charge or for profit; how long
the permission lasts (eg, is it a one-off copy or will the material
continue to be copied for a set period of time?); will copying be
paid for? And if so how and when will the charges be calculated?
will the rightsholder be acknowledged as the author or publisher in
any way on your copies? a warranty (which is a legal guarantee or
legally binding promise) that the person granting permission does
in fact control the copying rights in the work and that the work
does not infringe any existing copyright.This information is for
guidance only. It is not legal advice.MORE FROM AUSTRALIAN
COPYRIGHT COUNCILThe Australian Copyright Council publishes
information sheets and detailed guides, offers a legal advice
service and runs an annual training program.Information sheets
include: Assigning and licensing rights Fees and royalties for the
use of copyright material Permission: do I need it?Permission: how
to get it?
CREATIVE COMMONS
What are Creative Commons licences and how do they work?Creative
Commons (CC) licences are a series of licences that people use to
give upfront permission to others to use their work without
payment. The licences were initially developed in the United
States. Since then, multiple versions have been developed for the
US, and for other countries including Australia.There is
information about the licences developed for Australia at Creative
Commons Australia. There are four variations of the licence:
Attribution (BY); Noncommercial (NC); No Derivative Works (ND); and
Share Alike (SA).See the Australian Copyright Council's information
sheet Creative Commons Licences (G094v04) for issues you need to
consider before using a Creative Commons licence.Content covered by
a Creative Commons licence is not covered by our licences. We do
not allocate payments to content covered by these licences.
BLACKLINE MASTERS
The information in this article is for guidance only. It is not
legal advice.
Many publishers sell resources such as student workbooks and
teacher resources with a licence (usually confined to the purchaser
of the resource) to copy some or all of the contents of the
resource. These are commonly referred to as blackline masters.
A teacher who can copy a resource under a direct licence from
the publisher does not need to rely on the educational statutory
licence.
Whether a teachers use is made under a direct licence from the
publisher is affected by matters that include: whether the
publishers licence only applies to the purchaser of the resource;
if the purchaser is a school, whether the licence applies to all
staff of that school; whether the licence covers uses allowed by
the educational statutory licence, or only uses that are outside
the educational statutory licence; whether the licence applies to
all types of uses (such as scanning, uploading to learning
management systems, and emailing students) or only some (such as
photocopying); and whether the wording on the blackline master
pages about what teachers can do with the pages is intended to
describe what teachers can do under the educational statutory
licence, and/or what they can do under the publishers direct
licence.Ambiguity or lack of clarity in the wording used by
publishers is problematic for teachers who want to know whether
their use of a resource is directly licensed by the publisher. It
is also problematic for CAL.
When processing records of copying of blackline masters, CAL has
to work out whether teachers made the copies in reliance on direct
licences from publishers, or under the educational statutory
licence. This can be difficult to do if the scope of a publishers
licence is not clear, or if the wording on a blackline master page
is not clearly consistent with the terms of use for the resource as
a whole (which often appear on the imprint or verso page).
In addition, CAL does not have information about whether the
teachers who copied blackline masters were the purchasers of the
resource.
Where CAL has information that schools use of a work is directly
licensed by a publisher, then CAL does not allocate payment to that
work from the copyright fees it receives. CAL understands, however,
that a proportion of schools uses of blackline masters are made
outside the scope of the publishers licences for example, by
teachers who did not purchase the resource. For this reason, under
its current distribution policy, CAL pays publishers for schools
copying of blackline masters, at a discounted rate, in recognition
that some of the copies are covered by direct licences and some are
not.
To assist CAL, and teachers, to work out whether a teachers use
of a resource is covered by the publishers direct licence, or by
the educational statutory licence (or neither), CAL recommends that
publishers review their terms of use for the resource as a whole,
and the wording on any blackline master pages in the resource, to
make sure that: the wording on any blackline master pages is
consistent with the wording of the terms of use for the resource as
a whole; and the terms of use for the resource clearly identify any
uses that are directly licensed by the publisher.
If you are unsure about how your terms of use would be treated
in CALs processing of usage records, please feel free to contact
CALs Member Services team for clarification on our toll free number
1800 066 844, or by emailing [email protected].
Sample terms of use for blackline masters
If you wish to maintain your entitlement to receive payments
from copyright fees collected by CAL, CAL recommends that your
terms of use refer to uses that are allowed under the educational
statutory licence and: not license any other uses (option 1); or
only license uses that are not already allowed by the educational
statutory licence (option 2).In either case, you need to make sure
that any wording on any blackline master pages is consistent with
the terms of use.
Option 1
Terms of use for this publication [name of copyright owner]
[year]Except as permitted by the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), you may
not reproduce or communicate any of the contents of this
publication, without the written permission of the copyright
owner.You may be entitled to reproduce or communicate from this
publication for educational purposes under Part VB of the Copyright
Act, or for government purposes under Part VII Division 2 of the
Copyright Act. For more information, visit www.copyright.com.au and
www.copyright.org.au.
Option 2Terms of use for this publication [name of copyright
owner] [year].Except as permitted by the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth)
or these terms of use, you may not reproduce or communicate any of
the contents of this publication, without the written permission of
the copyright owner.
You may be entitled to reproduce or communicate from this
publication for educational purposes under Part VB of the Copyright
Act, or for government purposes under Part VII Division 2 of the
Copyright Act. For more information, visit www.copyright.com.au and
www.copyright.org.au.
Some pages in this publication include the following sentence:To
the extent to which the purchaser is not permitted by the Copyright
Act 1968, and subject to the terms of use for this publication, the
purchaser of this publication may photocopy this page for their
teaching purposes . To the extent you are not entitled to photocopy
these pages under Part VB of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), you may
photocopy them on the following conditions:
1. you are the purchaser, or the employee of the purchaser, of
this publication;2. each photocopy includes the phraseTo the extent
to which the purchaser is not permitted by the Copyright Act 1968,
and subject to the terms of use for this publication, the purchaser
of this publication may photocopy this page for their teaching
purposes; and3. each photocopy is used solely for your teaching
purposes.
You may not scan or digitise any of the contents of this
publication except as permitted by the Copyright Act 1968
(Cth).
Wording on photocopiable pages
You should include the phrase referred to in the terms of use on
each photocopiable page:To the extent not permitted by Part VB of
the Copyright Act 1968, and subject to the terms of use for this
resource, the purchaser of this resource may photocopy this page
for their teaching purposes.