Copyright is a type of Intellectual Property, like trademarks or patents. Australian copyright law is contained in the Copyright Act 1968 (Commonwealth), its predecessors and court decisions. This legislation balances the rights of copyright owners to compensation for use of their work, with access to information by the community. Copyright gives copyright owners exclusive rights to do or authorise others to do particular acts in relation to the protected material. The scope of the rights depends on the subject matter. In 2001, major changes were made to Australian copyright law by the Digital Agenda Amendments, to acknowledge the changes which have been wrought by new information technology. The centre piece of the amendments was the new technology-neutral right of 'communication' to the public. In December 2006 further amendments to the Copyright Act were made to comply with the Australia and United States Free Trade Agreement.

Copyright protects the material expression of an idea, not the idea itself. For a work to receive copyright protection it must be 'original' and it must be 'reduced to material form' but there is no requirement that the work have literary or artistic merit in order to attract copyright protection. To be considered 'original' requires only that the author of the work has used some skill, ingenuity and labour in making the work, not that the thought or idea embodied in the work be novel or new.

'Works':

• literary works, i.e. text including monographs, periodical articles, reports, computer programs, poems, lyrics and tables
• dramatic works, i.e. plays musical works, i.e. musical compositions in written form artistic works, i.e.
• images including photographs, diagrams, cartoons, illustrations, maps, graphs, building plans, sculptures and drawings.

'Subject matter other than works':

• sound recordings
• cinematographic films
• television and sound broadcasts (including cable and satellite transmissions) published editions of works (the printed layout of a publication).

Note that the copyright in 'subject matter other than works' exists independently of the copyright in any literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works recorded in these items. This is important when considering obtaining permission from copyright owners. A television broadcast of a film, for example, attracts its own copyright. So too does the cinematographic film that is broadcast. The film will also usually contain sound recordings and dramatic works (such as the screenplay or the script) which are in themselves the subject of copyright.

See also information on particular types of copyright material including

• Music: Recordings of performances
• Dramatic works: Recordings of performances
• Artistic works, including installations and photos
• Broadcasts and film
• Multimedia works

The exclusive rights enjoyed by owners of copyright in literary, dramatic and musical works are the rights to do or authorise the following acts:

• reproduce the work in material form (eg. photocopy, scan)
• publish the work
• perform the work in public (eg. recite, perform 'live' music, play recordings of music)
• to communicate the work (to email and to make available online)
• make an adaptation of the work (eg. translations, screenplay versions)
• do any of these acts in relation to an adaptation of the work.

The exclusive rights in relation to artistic works are more limited, and consist of the rights to:

• reproduce the work in material form
• publish the work
• communicate the work.

The exclusive rights in relation to sound recordings and cinematographic films are:

• to make a copy of the sound recording/film
• to cause the sound recording/film to be heard or seen in public
• to communicate the sound recording/film to the public
• in relation to sound recordings - to enter into a commercial rental arrangement in respect of the recording.

The exclusive rights in relation to television and sound broadcasts are:

• in the case of a television broadcast in so far as it consists of visual images - to make a cinematographic film of the broadcast, or a copy of such a film
• in the case of a sound broadcast, or of a television broadcast so far as it consists of sounds - to make a sound recording of the broadcast, or a copy of such a sound recording
• in the case of a television or a sound broadcast - to re-broadcast it or communicate it to the public otherwise than by broadcasting it.

The exclusive right in relation to a published edition of a work is to make a facsimile copy of the edition.

The term of duration is usually determined with reference to the lifetime of the creator. As a general rule, copyright usually lasts for the lifetime of the creator plus 70 years. Refer to this chart detailing the duration periods for different types of copyright works. If a work remains unpublished, copyright continues indefinitely. Once the copyright in a work has expired the work may be used freely by anyone.

Under Australian law, copyright protection arises automatically. There is no registration process in Australia; and, due to Australia's participation in various international intellectual property treaties, works attracting copyright protection here in the Australian jurisdiction are similarly protected in other jurisdictions.

Copyright protection under Australian law will operate in the absence of any specific copyright indicator or statement of ownership on a work but it is always advisable to include an assertion of copyright on your own work (eg copyright symbol owner name and date of creation) in order to clearly advise others of your rights and conrol over the work. Such a statement or indicator will be helpful in defending your rights in any litigation over the work.

Note that all Monash University owned materials, especially webpages and course materials, should include a suitable copyright statement (including websites, disks created by Monash staff as courseware etc). Refer to the copyright statements page within Resources and Dowloads (NB access restricted to Monash staff and students). For information about what material Monash owns refer to the questions below at Copyright and works created at or by the University.

Publishing services company Thorpe Bowker hold the ISBN agency in Australia (on behalf of the Australian National Library). They deal with the issuing of ISBNs, ISSNs etc. Monash University has no specific contact person who manages this process: individual staff or departments may apply directly to Thorpe Bowker for ISBN numbers. Some departments may already have purchased particular 'blocks' of ISBNs but this isn't strictly necessary - and there isn't one specific block assigned to the whole of Monash University.

Those seeking an ISBN number can apply through the Thorpe Bowker ISBN webpage and the agency will assign a number appropriately.

An infringement of copyright occurs where an act comprised in the copyright is done in relation to a substantial part of the work or other subject matter. 'Substantial part' is not defined in the Act, but in deciding whether or not an act amounts to an infringement, courts have placed a greater emphasis on the quality of what is used than the quantity.

In universities, the reproduction right is probably the one that is most likely to be infringed by staff and students. Note also, that when television or radio broadcasts are reproduced, e.g. onto audio-visual tape or onto digital media, there is a reproduction in material form of any underlying subject matter, such as the sound recording and the cinematographic film, as well as of the broadcast. When this material is then shown to students, there is a performance, (or causing to be seen or heard in public or communicated) not only of the work itself but also of underlying works or other subject matter. Thus one action in relation to material protected by copyright might infringe the copyright of many different authors and creators.

Professional indemnity cover may not be extended to a staff member whose flagrant disregard of the Copyright Act causes a copyright owner, or a Collecting Society acting on behalf of the copyright owner, to sue the University for infringement of copyright. Note that the Digital Agenda Amendments to the Act instruct the courts to consider the possibility of awarding additional damages for copyright infringement, where the infringement involved the conversion of a work from hard copy or analogue form into a digital or other electronic form.

'Public domain' has a specific meaning in copyright law. It refers to material for which copyright has expired. Material that is available to the public via the Internet or other means is not public domain simply by reason of its being publicly available.

The term of duration is determined with reference to the lifetime of the creator. As a general rule, copyright usually lasts for the lifetime of the creator plus 70 years.

Note that the duration of copyright has recently been extended in Australia to meet obligations under the Free Trade Agreement with the United States of America: whereas copyright used to last for the lifetime of the creator plus 50 years, it now lasts for the lifetime of the creator plus 70 years.

Some types of works have different periods of duration. A chart detailing the duration periods for different types of copyright works is available.

Changing a work in the public domain can create a new copyright work. For example, alternations or translations of out-of-copyright literary works or an arrangement of out-of-copyright musical works may mean that the altered work is a new work and therefore under copyright protection.

Once the copyright in a work has expired the work may be used freely by anyone. There is no mechanism by which the term of copyright may be extended or shortened.

The term of duration for copyright may differ from one country to the next. Individuals should observe the legislation of the country in which they propose to enact the use of the copyright work. For example, if an old book is to be scanned onto 50 CDs for use in a course overseas, the duration period for the book will be determined by the legislation of the country in which the scanning and CD-burning takes place.

For items of material that consist of several copyright works, the copyright must be expired in each work before the item of material is entirely public domain. For example, for an audio recording to be public domain, copyright in the underlying written composition (musical work) and the lyrics (literary work) must have expired for the entire recording to be considered public domain. Similarly, the published edition must be considered in determining whether a particular literary, dramatic or musical publication is public domain.

The Internet is not the same as the 'public domain' even though it may be readily accessible to the public. The term 'public domain' has a particular legal meaning and signfiies that a work is out of copyright or does not attract copyright. In the absence of any specific statement indicating that a work is 'in the public domain' you can't assume that a website or its content is freely available with no copyright attached.

The Internet moreover is NOT a copyright-free zone and the University can identify you when you use the internet. If you infringe copyright on Monash computer accounts or email, you could face disciplinary measures, starting with the suspension of access rights.

Students will generally own copyright in material they create at Monash, whether it is for assignments, their thesis or some other purpose. The exceptions are where there has been an assignment or transfer of copyright from the student to another party through a written agreement. Then the terms of the agreement will decide who owns copyright. The assignment may be required under the Monash IP Statute 11.2 .

Academics own their Research and theses, unless assigned or licensed to another party. Monash owns:

• course materials
• all materials produced by general staff
• a work where intellectual property owned by the university has been utilised
• multimedia items
• computer programs created in association with a patentable invention
• films or sound recordings produced with specific Monash funding or facilities
  

Monash will also own patentable IP created by staff. The Councils Statement on Patent Revenue Distribution will govern the distribution of royalties here. If a student produces a patent worthy invention or discovery where the university has made a specific contribution of funding, resources, facilities or apparatus, this also belongs to the University. A profit sharing arrangement is usually entered into in these situations.

• Refer to the Monash IP Statute 11.2 which sets out ownership rules for Monash staff and students.
• The Solicitor’s Office manage all queries regarding ownership of intellectual property. Inquiries to Glenda Beecher, Deputy University Solicitor, Tel. 54296;
• The University Solicitor's office website provides a useful explanatory memoranda on what the University owns under the Intellectual Property Statute and Regulations.

According to the Universities IP Statute 11.2.3A.1 and the Monash IP Regulations 2.1.1(a) Monash claim ownership in course materials. So copyright in the material does not belong to the lecturer or staff member who created it but to the University.
However the staff member has a licence to use the work for their teaching and research purposes (IP Statute 11.2.7). This would also apply if the staff member left the university.

According to the Universities IP Statute 11.2.5 academic staff own copyright in the research they create, unless it falls within one of the categories in the regulations that is prescribed ie: a work where intellectual property owned by the University has been utilised, patents, multimedia items, computer programs created in association with a patentable invention and films or sound recordings produced with specific Monash funding or facilities. However, general staff do not own copyright in any research as the exception in the Monash IP statute only applies to academic staff.

According to the Universities IP Statute 11.2.1 general staff do not own copyright in any materials they create as part of their employment under a contract of service with the University, such as manuals, procedures and policies. If an academic staff member wrote administrative materials, copyright would still belong to the University, unless they could be classified as research.