FAQs: Lecturing

Generally speaking, you are free to display, show, demonstrate or 'perform' most types of works during the course of a face-to-face lecture or tutorial.

The Copyright Act has a specific allowance (Section 28) which enables educators to show or 'perform' copyright works as part of giving educational instruction.

For example, a lecturer can play a DVD of a film in class, provided no fee is charged and the audience is limited to enrolled students and staff of the unit.

This special allowance is generally limited to face-to-face activity only: it does not extend to providing students with copies of the DVD content, for example; nor would this allowance cover a lecturer separately posting clips from the DVD onto the unit website (MUSO or similar).

Lectures going online

Generally speaking, you shouldn't need to remove 'third-party' content from your lectures when placing them online ('third-party' content meaning images, text quotes, video or audio clips captured during the lecture recording process).

You may, however, have to restrict the end format or delivery method of the lecture file, depending on the content embedded in the lecture.

As a start, lecture files can only be made available online to students on a password protected site (ie MUSO).

If a lecture recording captures content from DVDs, CDs or other video / audio content that is not from a broadcast (or from broadcaster podcasts etc) the resultant files MUST only be made available online as a 'stream', not as a downloadable file. For music recordings captured during a lecture and put online, see also the information on this site about the Universities Educational Music Licence and the requirements for specific notices and source citation details.

Much of the content used in lectures will be covered for online use by the Parts VA 'Screenrights' or Part VB 'CAL' statutory licences. (Refer to the Teaching page)

• If you include images, diagrams, charts or tables, or small text quotes in the lecture you will be covered by the Part VB 'CAL' licence
• If you embed excerpts from radio or TV or broadcaster podcasts or vodcasts within your lecture file you will be covered by the Part VA 'Screenrights' licence.

Lectures containing these kinds of content can be made available as downloadable files for students.

For lectures that include content used in reliance on the Part VB and/or Part VA licences, the regulation copyright warning notices (Part VB and/or Part VA, as appropriate), must be displayed before, or at the same time as, students access the lecture online.

Some automated lecture recording systems will already have this notice incorporated into the first part of the recording. If this isn't the case, you should consider using the template slide available on the Resources and Downloads page > Copyright warning notices.(NB access restricted to Monash staff and students).

If in doubt, seek advice from the Copyright Adviser before you put the lecture online.

Probably not; but if the movie website in question required you to be a member and to login to get access the trailer, then your 'use' of the content, including the trailer, may be governed by the ' terms of use' for members or subscribers to the site. These terms may limit your use to personal viewing only - and some expressly prohibit any further distribution or transmission to others.

For content legitimately available on the 'open' web (ie you don't have to be a member or login to access), the 'play in class' allowance within the Copyright Act enables a lecturer to access and display that content in class, as part of instruction, without this being considered a performance to the public (therefore no infringement of copyright).

'Legitimately available' means put online by or with the authorisation of the copyright owner. Obviously if the content appears to be, of itself, infringing (copies of music, animations, film footage, TV shows, documents, software, etc put online without authorisation from the owner) you should not be accessing these in a lecture (doing so could breach copyright and your terms of employment at Monash).

If the lecture in question is recorded and then made available in MUSO or similar, the file can only be available as a stream (for listening only, not downloadable).

Where private video footage is shown in class or captured as part of a recorded lecture, bear in mind there may also be privacy concerns if the subject (person/s) within the video footage is/are identifiable. If in doubt seek advice from the University Privacy Office.

Yes - wherever possible you should be including some brief source citation for any third-party works embedded within your lectures. Such source acknowledgement (and, especially, acknowledgement of the work's author or creator) is a requirement under the Moral Rights provisions within the Copyright Act. The source citation needn't necessarily be with or on the item in the lecture if that is going to hamper your presentation of the material: you could instead, use a reference number for each image, quote or item and then list them in the final page or slide of your lecture.

Sometimes, however, it can be very difficult to trace the source or authorship of a well used and highly illustrative item, perhaps as 'inherited' from other lecturer of the unit or course. There is scope within the Moral Rights provisions to allow for a person to use another's works without providing attribution of authorship where it was unreasonable to do so.

Yes, most images are covered under the Part VB 'CAL' licence. The usual restrictions imposed by the Part VB 'CAL' licence will apply if the lecture goes online: access must be restricted to students and staff of Monash (ie MUSO); and the Part VB warning notice must be displayed (refer to Teaching page or the Resources and Downloads page > Copyright warning notices for details; NB access restricted to Monash staff and students). The photographer or creator of the image should be cited, where possible, and the source clearly identified. Note also that many images found on the Internet are there without permission from the copyright owner. These should be avoided in preference for images which have a more certain provenance (and authorisation).

If the image is an unpublished work (private photo or similar) you may need to seek permission from the owner of the image (usually the photographer) to use it.

Bear in mind there may also be privacy concerns when displaying a private photograph in a lecture if the subject (person/s) within the photograph is identifiable. If in doubt seek advice from the University Privacy Office.