Copyright is a form of intellectual property. It grants exclusive rights to the copyright owner to protect their work for a limited period. These rights are balanced somewhat by a range of exceptions that permit use in certain circumstances.
It is regulated in Australia under the Copyright Act 1968 as well as various international treaties.
The author(s) of a work is generally the copyright owner(s) unless copyright in their work has been assigned through employment or contract.
There may be more than one copyright owner in works with joint authorship or in an item that consists of multiple copyrights (see Types of Protected Material section below).
At Adelaide University the Intellectual Property Policy provides that, in most circumstances:
For an item to protected by copyright it must be:
Copyright generally, does not protect ideas, concepts, facts, methods or names.
| Literary | Artistic | Musical | Dramatic |
|---|---|---|---|
Books Journal articles Poems Exam papers Computer code | Paintings Drawings Sculptures Photographs Diagrams | Melodies Music notation Film scores Composition files | Plays Screenplays Mime Choreograph |
Films | Sound Recordings | Broadcasts | Published Editions |
|---|---|---|---|
Motion pictures TV programs Interactive games Animations | Music recordings Podcasts Interviews Sound effects | Radio broadcasts TV broadcasts Podcasts of above | Typesetting Layout |
It's possible for more than one type of copyright to exist in an item. For example, a vinyl record is typically protected with multiple layers of copyright, consisting of the following:
It's useful to be able to identify the different copyright components in an item as each may have distinct associated rights, durations, and ownership.
Copyright doesn’t just apply to copying; there is a bundle of distinct, exclusive rights for each material type. If another party exercises any of these rights they may be infringing the copyright unless they have a suitable licence or permission, or they can establish a fair dealing or other exception as a defence.
The key right to consider in the educational context are:
| Right | Literary | Artistic | Musical | Dramatic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reproduce | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Publish | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Communicate | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Perform | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Adapt | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Right | Films | Sound Recordings | Broadcasts | Published Editions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Copy | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Communicate | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
|
| Perform |
| ✔ |
|
|
| Licence |
| ✔ |
| |
Each of these rights can be licensed separately, so an author might license the publication, reproduction, and communication rights in a new novel to a publisher but retain the adaptation rights to make a film version or translation.
Moral rights
Moral rights are the personal rights of individual authors to ensure their ongoing connection to the works that they created. As such, they cannot be assigned or licensed.
The legislated moral rights in the Copyright Act include the:
While moral rights generally expire along with the copyright, it is common practice to observe moral rights even when an item is in the public domain.
ICIP protocols are a set of guidelines on the use of Indigenous cultural material, with a particular emphasis on early and ongoing consultation with and consent from the relevant communities.
Further to copyright, ICIP protocols may cover a range of items that are not always protected under other IP frameworks including:
The rights Indigenous peoples may exercise in relation to these types of materials include:
Further resources
Terri Janke and Company; Rights to Culture: Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP), Copyright and Protocols
Australian Council for the Arts; Protocols for using First Nations Cultural and Intellectual Property in the Arts
The exclusive rights under copyright expire after a specified period. Although moral rights technically expire with the copyright, it is common practice to continue observing these rights.
Broadly, copyright durations can be summarised as follows, however there are some exceptions depending on the type of material and other factors, such as the publication date.
Copyright in Australia has expired for:
See the Attorney General’s Department Duration of Copyright table for specific durations by material type.
Open Education Resources and Open Access
Open Education Resources consist of teaching and learning materials that are in the public domain or have been released under a licence that permits some degree of use without purchase or permission. Open Education Resource materials include textbooks, courseware, software, datasets, images, music and video, among others.
The Copyright Compliance Procedure prioritises the use of Open Education Resources for University activities where possible.
Open Access materials are effectively a subset of Open Education Resources but more commonly refer to peer-reviewed textbooks, journal articles, conference papers and other publications released under a licence to maximise the sharing and distribution of research and information.
See the Open Education Resource Guide for information.
Creative Commons
Creative Commons (CC) are the most widely adopted type of licences for releasing Open Education Resources and Open Access materials, although custom licences are also employed for this purpose.
There are four key CC components used in different combinations to make up up six main CC licenses. Aside from those that include the no derivative (ND) component, they permit users to “distribute, remix, adapt and build upon the material” with certain conditions:
The University has licences with numerous commercial vendors and several copyright collecting societies, which permit certain uses of materials and resources by University staff and students.
Commercial licences
The University Library has licences in place with over 120 vendors to provide resources to staff and students such as journals, datasets, ebooks, news, guides, audio and video recordings, among other resources.
While there are distinct licence terms for each resource, they typically permit staff and students to access (view) and possibly copy (download) or communicate (share) materials for educational or research purposes. Check the specific terms or contact Ask Library for assistance.
Collecting societies
Copyright collecting societies are non-profit organisations that are responsible for licensing a broad range of content and distributing royalties to rightsholders.
The University has agreements in place with several copyright collecting societies covering the use of test, images, TV and radio material, and music. See Further Resources for details.
There are a range of exceptions in the Copyright Act 1968 that can be relied on as a defence in relation to activities that would otherwise infringe copyright. The key exceptions relevant to the education context are outlined below.
Note that licence terms may override legislated rights and exceptions for some materials.
Research or Study
This fair dealing exception permits the use of a ‘reasonable portion’ of material for research or study purposes. The research or study can be personal or informal but does not extend to making research results public.
A reasonable portion is generally up to:
If using more than a reasonable portion, or using other types of materials such as an artistic work, sound recording, film or broadcast, the following fairness factors must be considered in aggregate:
See the Australian Copyright Council Research or Study Fact Sheet for more information on assessing the fairness factors.
Criticism or review
There must be sufficient commentary or analysis about the third-party material for this exception to apply, rather than it being employed to illustrate a point or for comparison.
Courts have applied the same fairness factors test for research or study above when determining whether the use of material for the purpose of criticism or review is “fair”.
Other exceptions
Disability access
The disability exceptions permit persons with a disability and organisations assisting persons with a disability to use material in certain circumstances. See the Australian copyright council Disability Access & Copyright Fact Sheet for more information.
Teaching exceptions
There are several exceptions for the use of materials for teaching purposes, including:
See Copyright for Teaching for more information
