Copyright Issues for courses taught at overseas campuses

Australia, South Africa, Malaysia and other countries all have different copyright laws that govern how material must be used in those countries.
The country where the copying occurs or the country where that material is stored on a server will determine which country’s law applies.
Database, software and other licences will include their own terms and conditions that may override the national copyright laws. These terms can restrict or prohibit use of material for overseas courses or distribution to students or staff in different countries.
If you are teaching courses that are multi campus across nations and supplying all the materials from Australia, Australian law will apply.
As in Australia, when providing course material for overseas contexts the material must only be provided to Monash University students and staff. No other users should be able to access it.

Who to contact?

The Malaysian campus solicitor can be contacted for Malaysian copyright queries: Ms Siew Mei Lin +60-3-55146089 siew.mei.lin@adm.monash.edu.my

Queries on South African copyright can be directed to Nicolene Murdoch Director Institutional Planning and Quality Assurance at +27 11 950-4207 or Nicolene.Murdoch@adm.monash.edu.au

The Copyright Adviser located in Melbourne (Clayton campus) can only assist with copyright issues under Australian law.

General principles for Monash courses taught at overseas campuses

If you are using third party copyright material (that is, material that is not created/written by you or owned by Monash) for a course that is also being taught in Malaysia or South Africa, you need to consider these issues:

Copyright covers the act of copying (reproduction) and making something available online (communication). You will need to determine where the copying is being done and where the material is being stored. What is the location of the server that is housing the online material? Who is doing the printing?
The type of material will also be important. If it is material from an online journal or software, there will be licence terms and conditions specific to that database or software that must be followed. These will generally override any copyright statutes.

Copyright issues for Monash courses sold to overseas universities or institutions

If you are selling courses to overseas educational institutions or to an Australian organisation that is not an educational institution, you will need to get permission to reproduce material for these courses.
The educational statutory licences in the Australian Copyright Act (Parts VA and VB) and the other licences purchased by the University, covering music or electronic resources (e-journals for example) will not permit the sale of the content to other educational organisations here or overseas.

Any material that is copied or made available online for non-Monash students can only be used with permission of the copyright owners. For more information see seeking permission.

There may be material that is made available for use by the copyright owner. For example, open source software may be available under the GNU/General Public Licence. Social science, arts/law articles or images may be available under a Creative Commons licence. This material can be used according to the licence terms. Note that Creative Commons material is often for non-commercial use only. If a course if being sold, this may be considered a commercial purpose.

There may be material that is out of copyright that could be used, although the duration of copyright in the country where the material is being accessed may also need to be considered, especially if it is going to be reprinted or copied there. Refer to this chart for duration of copyright in Australia.

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Summary: Copyright and Monash courses overseas (15kb)