Bond University Library

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Copyright

Introduction to Copyright

What is copyright?

The Copyright Act gives creators of original 'works' the exclusive right to reproduce, publish, communicate, and adapt their material; and to control the way it is used by other people.

What are 'works'?

Works protected by the Australian Copyright Act 1968 are defined as:

literary - most fictional and non-fictional written material, including tables, computer programmes, and instruction manuals;
dramatic - play scripts, film scripts, choreographic score, and scenarios;
musical - scores or other notations (lyrics are protected as literary works);
artistic - paintings, sculptures, etc., technical drawings and models, photographs, diagrams, and buildings;
cinematograph film - the visual images and sound track of a film, including those available on video, DVD, cd-rom, or a website;
sound recordings - any analogue, digital, or electronic recording, including MPEG or MP3 files;
published editions of works - the way in which an individual edition of a work is presented, including typesetting etc

Exceptions under the Act

There are exceptions to the exclusive rights enjoyed by owners of copyright in literary, dramatic and musical works. There is no copyright infringement if:

  • you obtain permission from the copyright owner;
  • the copyright is owned by the University;
  • the material has been supplied to the University with a licence to copy;
  • the proposed copying and/or communication falls within provisions in the Copyright Act that allow 'insubstantial amounts' of copying without payment; or
  • the copying is covered by the statutory licence; by this licence universities pay creators, through Copyright Agency Limited (CAL), for use of their copyright works.

When Students can make copies of copyright material

Fair dealing for the purpose of research or study
Students may copy a 'reasonable portion' - e.g. 10% or 1 chapter of a work; 1 article of a journal issue (or more if they concern the same topic of research or course of study) - of copyright items for private study or research.

Fair dealing for the purpose of review or critique
Copyright work may be copied for inclusion in, for instance, an essay, conference paper or journal article for the purpose of commenting critically on the material. Any such use should cite the work and author (unless the author is anonymous or has agreed or directed that they not be named).


(With grateful acknowledgement to Curtin University)