Copyright introduction

At university recognising copyright is important for:

• Your own creative work – when you generate your own IP, for example, in an assignment, thesis or research notes, you own the copyright. Anyone who wishes to copy, share, publish, adapt or perform your work must:
  • get your permission in writing
  • give you appropriate credit
• Academic Integrity – when you use someone else’s work in an assignment, coursework or research output it is essential to cite the source. Taking credit for work that is not yours is plagiarism and is a breach of academic integrity
• Managing risk, liability and reputation - unauthorised use of third party copyright works can have legal and financial consequences for you and the university. Academic reputation can be harmed through copyright infringement.

Third party copyright is any copyright material that is not your own work. Material that you have written or created may also be third party if you have agreed to copyright transfer with a publisher or contractor.
You may be infringing copyright if you make or share copies of third party copyright material without permission or a licence. For example:

• Teaching staff may infringe student copyright by sharing assignments without permission
• Students may infringe university copyright by posting course materials online
• Researchers may infringe publisher copyright by posting their articles in social media networks

Copyright protects all creative works, including webpages, blogs, photographs, memes, and software even if access is free.

You may infringe copyright if you copy and share material unless there is a licence or you have permission from the copyright owner.

Sharing a link to legitimate online content is not a breach of copyright because sharing a link does not create a local copy. Legitimate content is content that is legally uploaded. Knowingly sharing a link to a pirated copy is infringing copyright.

The answer to the question “If I reference or credit the source, can I make a copy?” is “No, referencing does not avoid copyright infringement claims.”

Copyright owners have the exclusive right to copy and publish their works. Copying all or part of a work is only permitted if there is a legal exception, a licence or if you have permission.

Referencing is intended to acknowledge others IP and provide a record of sources of information and ideas. You should always provide a reference if you have used someone else’s work for inspiration or discussion. Referencing avoids plagiarism, upholds academic integrity and discourages the spread of misinformation.

For more about referencing and citation see Academic skills help

'Fair dealing' exceptions in the Copyright Act allow use of all or parts of copyright-protected works without permission from the copyright owner for certain purposes:

• Research or study
• Criticism or review
• Parody or satire
• Reporting the news
• Giving professional advice

There are limits, and the use must be fair to the creator. To decide if a use is 'fair', courts consider three factors: the amount of the work copied, the impact on any potential commercial market, and if the part copied is key to the whole work.

Read Explainer: What is 'fair dealing' and when can you copy without permission? From The Conversation. (17 July 2017)

Refer to the pages on Copyright for Teaching, Copyright for Students and Copyright for Researchers for more information on using copyright material without a licence or permission.

The Copyright Act includes an exception for reproduction of published works into accessible formats for people with difficulty reading, viewing, hearing or comprehending copyright material.

Students requiring alternative formats of library resources should register with Accessibility and Inclusion Services (AIS). AIS will then coordinate with the library and publishers to assist registered students in obtaining accessible format copies of course readings and materials.

For more information about copyright and accessibility see the Marrakesh Treaty.

Public domain means there is no copyright protection.

The duration of copyright protection varies by jurisdiction and type of material. Once copyright has expired there are no longer copyright related restrictions on reusing the work, however there may be other restrictions such as privacy or cultural concerns. See How long does copyright last? on the National Library of Australia website for further explanation.

Copyright owners may also choose to waive their rights and dedicate their work to the public domain for free use. The public domain status may be indicated with a CC0 licence, or written in a website terms and conditions.

Open Access (OA) is more than 'free to read'.

'Free to read' means anyone can read and download research publications and textbooks without paywalls. You do not need to be signed in to the university network to access a free-to-read journal article or book.

A work that is 'free to read' is not free to reproduce, republish or adapt. You can read and download the work but you cannot reuse it without permission from the copyright owner unless there is a copyright exception.

Full OA allows users to reuse, retain, redistribute, revise and adapt works. Some rights, such as the right of attribution, may be reserved. Full OA is managed with open licences.

Openly licenced means the work can be reused without contacting the copyright owner for permission. The licence indicates that the copyright owner has already given permission for some uses. Instead of “© all rights reserved” it is “© some rights reserved”.

The Open Access icon is used in databases to indicate both 'free to read' and full open access. If you want to reuse work without requesting permission, you need to look for openly licensed material.

An open licence statement or Creative Commons icon indicates openly licensed material.

Read more about open access.

You can request permission from a copyright owner if you want to use their work in a way that is not covered by copyright exceptions or a licence.

Some examples where permission might be required are:

• Making a thesis on CRO open access if it contains third party content such as quotes, diagrams, photographs or manuscripts.
• Reusing your own published article in a thesis.
• Uploading third party content to a website, blog or discussion board.
• Publishing a journal article that contains third party content.
• Using third party content in teaching materials shared with partners outside of the CSU network.

You need to get permission in writing and keep the written record.

Refer to the libguide on Requesting permission to use copyright material for more information.

Copyright applies as soon as a work is created in physical or digital form. By default, the creator (author, artist, musician, programmer) is the first owner of the copyright. However, in law, copyright is treated as property  that can be assigned, sold or inherited and contract laws can override copyright law. This means copyright can be owned by employers, publishers, and heirs.

• Employees are hired by their employers for their creative output, so generally the employers own the work copyright.
• Music recordings are owned by record labels. Films and their characters are owned by film studios.
• Much of the academic literature (textbooks and journals) we use for learning and research is owned by publishers. As publishers own the copyright, authors of research articles can be restricted in how they share or reuse the content they have written.

The University IP Policy governs copyright ownership at Charles Sturt.

Students own copyright in their assignments and theses. There may be multiple copyright owners in group projects.

The university owns copyright in teaching materials created as part of employment contracts.

Copyright ownership of research outputs can depend on grants, collaborative agreements, publisher agreements and funding sources.

If you own the copyright to content that is used online without your permission, you can ask for it to be removed. Most social media platforms and many websites have a designated contact or process for reporting copyright infringement. Always start by sending a polite request for content to be taken down.

If there is no response to the initial request, you can send a formal takedown notice to the internet service provider. If there is a dispute and the website owner is using your work legally then you may be liable for costs or damages. Artslaw Australia has more information about copyright takedown notices.

Social media sites are designed for sharing content. Sometimes it can be difficult to know what is ok from a copyright perspective.

Key points for using social media platforms:

• Posting original content: When you create and share original content (such as photos, videos, articles, or artwork) on social media, you retain the copyright to that content. However, by posting on certain platforms, you grant the platform a licence to use your content according to their terms of service. Always read the terms and conditions for each platform you use.
• Posting others' content: When sharing content created by others, ensure you have permission, or a licence to do so. Sharing links is ok, provided the site you are sharing is legal.
• Downloading and using content: Using material from social media platforms for university assignments, research or teaching is subject to the same conditions as content from any other website. You need a licence or permission or use must be covered by an exception in the Copyright Act.
• Avoid referencing or linking to articles on academic social networks such as ResearchGate and Academia.edu. Legitimately open access articles should have links to research repositories or publisher websites.

Read 'Know your rights and stay on top of evolving terms of service when using social media' by Professor Kathy Bowry from UNSW Law.