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_Eastern Health Library Service_: Copyright - general information

Copyright introduction

 

Copyright basics Copyright attributes

The Commonwealth Copyright Act 1968 ("Copyright Act") provides the legislative framework in Australia for the copying and communication of creative, original work.

Copyright gives the copyright owner of original 'works' the exclusive right to, among other things, reproduce, publish, communicate, and adapt their material.

Works protected by copyright include almost all written materials in any material format including images, music, other sound recordings, and other visual media such as websites and movies.

In general, you cannot reproduce or distribute copyright materials without permission of the copyright holder. This includes:

  • posting material on websites
  • emailing documents to others
  • distributing copies of material
  • using materials without attribution.

Note that copyright is inherent in the production of a work. Therefore assume any work you come across is protected by copyright, and has restrictions on how you may use it.

  • Copyright exists automatically. 
    • You do not need to register a work for it to be copyrighted
    • You do not need to add the copyright symbol, ©, to a work for it to be copyrighted.
  • Copyright can be transferred.
    • The creator/author of a work may not be the copyright holder.
  • Copyright protects the form (writing, website, etc) NOT the idea itself.
    • Ideas may be subject to intellectual property agreements.
  • Copyright coexists and interacts with other intellectual property and licencing agreements.

For more information: An Introduction to Copyright in Australia / Australian Copyright Council

Copyright material may be used with the permission of the copyright owner.

Use of copyright material where permission of the copyright owner is not held can be undertaken in the following circumstances:

  • where material is in the public domain (see tab Public Domain)
  • within the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act (see tab Fair Dealing)
  • where creators permit usage within the terms of a Creative Commons licence (see tab Creative Commons licences)
  • within the terms of a statutory licence held by your organisation (see the page Copyright @ Eastern Health)
    • the limited commercial Copyright Licence held by Eastern Health enables up to 500 internal users to make, store and distribute copyright material, ensuring best practice copyright governance and compliance. For details see the page on Copyright @ Eastern Health

If you have a question relating to copyright please contact the Eastern Health Library Service at EHLS@easternhealth.org.au

Not because material is available to the public (e.g. on the internet) does it mean that it is in the "public domain" for copyright purposes.

Public domain in the context of copyright means that the rights in that material have been given to the public because:

  • the copyright in that material has expired, or
  • the creator has waived their rights over the work.

You can use public domain work:

  • for any purpose,
  • to any extent,
  • for free and 
  • without needing permission.

In Australia, copyright in material will generally expire 70 years after the death of the creator (if the work was made public in their lifetime).

However copyright duration rules have changed, so the above does not always apply.

The duration of copyright may differ in other countries.

More information

You can use copyright material with the permission of the copyright owner.

If you do not have permission from the copyright holder, the Copyright Act, permits limited use of copyright material under the Fair Dealing exceptions for the following purposes:

  • study or research
  • criticism or review
  • parody or satire
  • reporting the news
  • judicial proceedings.

In each case, your use must be considered 'fair and reasonable'.

The Copyright Act defines fair and reasonable amounts as:

  • 10% of the total number of pages (or 10% of the total number of words for works with no page numbers)
  • one chapter for most textual material, 
  • one article per journal or magazine issue, unless articles are on a closely related topic (where two or more articles are fair)

More information:

Creative Commons is a non-profit organisation and platform that provides creators with options to share their work so others may re-use it and build on the creativity.

This relies on a system of Creative Commons licenses.

When using Creative Commons material:

  • always attribute the author, regardless of the licence, and state the title of the work
  • provide information about where the original work is hosted, or a direct link
  • keep any copyright notice attached to the work intact on all copies of that work
  • indicate and link to the licence from any copies of the work
  • where you make changes to the work, acknowledge the original work and indicate that changes have been made
  • use in accordance with the specific type of Creative Commons licence.

More information:

Creators of copyright material have exclusive rights over how their work is used, including control over the reproduction, publication and communication of the work.

The creator of a work may not own the copyright:

  • if the work is created as part of employment, then copyright is generally owned by the employer
  • copyright might be transferred
    • publishers often take ownership of copyright as part of publication agreements (e.g. journal articles).

If copyright is owned by, or transferred to, a third party the creator of the work retains 'moral rights' over the work, including:

  • the right to be credited for the work
  • the right for the work not to be falsely attributed
  • the right to not have the work treated in a derogatory manner.

Moral rights cannot be transferred but the holder of the moral rights can consent to their moral rights being infringed, for example, by not having their work credited or for it to be attributed to their employer.

Intellectual property describes ideas, designs, formulas, improvements in processes and procedures.

Copyright is one form of intellectual property.

Other forms include patents and trademarks.

Intellectual property at Eastern Health is covered by the Intellectual Property practice guideline (link will only work via Eastern Health Network).

Refer to this guideline for information regarding intellectual property at Eastern Health.

There are many sites where you can find free to use resources.

These resources are in the public domain or openly licensed for free use.

Please note that it is best practice to attribute all resources you use.

Openly licensed images

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