Copyright is a system of laws that is designed to protect the works of authors from unauthorised copying and transmission, whilst at the same time allowing the public to have reasonable access to information. Australian copyright law is contained in a piece of federal legislation called The Copyright Act 1968.
In the language of copyright, the things that a person creates, such as essays, photographs, cartoons, stories, novels, term papers, paintings, maps, plays and musical scores are called "works". So there are
As well as works, there are
In most cases, copyright will be owned by the creator of the work. If you are a student, then you will own the copyright in the works that you create, as a general rule.
A copyright owner has a number of exclusive rights, that is things that only he or she can do, or authorise someone else to do. In general, these rights are:
a) to make copies of the workThe Copyright Act has some sections called the "fair dealing" sections. One of these sections relates to fair dealing for research and study. This section says that you may copy a "reasonable portion" of a literary, dramatic or musical work for your own research and study. In brief, the Act says that a reasonable portion is 10% or one chapter of a book, or one article from any one issue of a journal.
Copying a whole textbook would not be considered fair, even if you need it for your course but you think it is too expensive. If you are a low income student and face serious financial difficulty in meeting your education costs, you may find useful information on the Griffith Equity Scholarships web page www.griffith.edu.au/scholarships/available-scholarships/equity-scholarships.
For artistic work, video and sound recordings, there is no simple rule as to how much you can copy for research and study purposes. There are a number of factors you have to consider.
If you have bought some computer software, or you are a licensed user, the Copyright Act says that you may make a copy of the program for the purposes of backup, research and study, error correction, interoperability (making your program interact with other software) and security testing.
Research and study includes assessment, so you may include fair portions of works in your assignments, projects and theses, provided that you attribute the sources properly. The copyright situation gets more complicated if your project or thesis will be distributed beyond your assessors or put online. If this is likely, consult the chapters on Writing for Publication and The Internet, The Web and Copyright in the Copyright Guide www.griffith.edu.au/ins/copyright/.You may have heard that all the stuff on the internet and the world wide web is free of copyright. Well, that's not correct. If you want to use material found on the web for your research and study, you may do so under the fair dealing provisions, but remember that you are restricted to using the material for that purpose only. Of course, if the website states that you can use the material for other purposes, then you can use it as permitted.
Most of the music and movies available for download from websites or through peer to peer networks is in the form of illegal copies, which infringe copyright. If you come across a website offering lots of downloads from many different bands and artists for nothing or a very small fee, then you can be pretty sure they aren't legitimate.
Using University equipment to download, upload, share or store music or movies without the permission of the copyright owner is a breach of the University’s IT Code of Practice and will cause you to be involved in disciplinary action, and to have your account suspended. You will also be vulnerable to prosecution by the media industries if they catch you. Music is particularly dangerous stuff to deal with online. The music industry, the people who own the copyright in the songs, are very keen to defend their property. In 2003, three university students in Sydney were convicted of music copyright offences and one received a jail sentence
It is not legal to play or store music copied from your CDs on University equipment, despite recent changes to Australian copyright law. The law allows you to copy a CD you own but only for private and domestic use for playing on a device that you own.
If you need more information, consult the Griffith Copyright Guide online at www.griffith.edu.au/ins/copyright/.
If that does not give you the answer, contact the University Copyright Officer by email at m.magner@griffith.edu.au
Use of University Information Technology Resources Code of Practice is available online at www.griffith.edu.au/ins/org/techmenu/security/coc.html.
Good Luck with your studies!
| Previous | INDEX | Next |
Copyright is a system of laws that is designed to protect the works of authors from unauthorised copying and transmission, whilst at the same time allowing the public to have reasonable access to information. Australian copyright law is contained in a piece of federal legislation called The Copyright Act 1968.
In the language of copyright, the things that a person creates, such as essays, photographs, cartoons, stories, novels, term papers, paintings, maps, plays and musical scores are called "works". So there are
As well as works, there are
In most cases, copyright will be owned by the creator of the work. If you are a student, then you will own the copyright in the works that you create, as a general rule.
A copyright owner has a number of exclusive rights, that is things that only he or she can do, or authorise someone else to do. In general, these rights are:
a) to make copies of the workThe Copyright Act has some sections called the "fair dealing" sections. One of these sections relates to fair dealing for research and study. This section says that you may copy a "reasonable portion" of a literary, dramatic or musical work for your own research and study. In brief, the Act says that a reasonable portion is 10% or one chapter of a book, or one article from any one issue of a journal.
Copying a whole textbook would not be considered fair, even if you need it for your course but you think it is too expensive. If you are a low income student and face serious financial difficulty in meeting your education costs, you may find useful information on the Griffith Equity Scholarships web page www.griffith.edu.au/scholarships/available-scholarships/equity-scholarships.
For artistic work, video and sound recordings, there is no simple rule as to how much you can copy for research and study purposes. There are a number of factors you have to consider.
If you have bought some computer software, or you are a licensed user, the Copyright Act says that you may make a copy of the program for the purposes of backup, research and study, error correction, interoperability (making your program interact with other software) and security testing.
Research and study includes assessment, so you may include fair portions of works in your assignments, projects and theses, provided that you attribute the sources properly. The copyright situation gets more complicated if your project or thesis will be distributed beyond your assessors or put online. If this is likely, consult the chapters on Writing for Publication and The Internet, The Web and Copyright in the Copyright Guide www.griffith.edu.au/ins/copyright/.You may have heard that all the stuff on the internet and the world wide web is free of copyright. Well, that's not correct. If you want to use material found on the web for your research and study, you may do so under the fair dealing provisions, but remember that you are restricted to using the material for that purpose only. Of course, if the website states that you can use the material for other purposes, then you can use it as permitted.
Most of the music and movies available for download from websites or through peer to peer networks is in the form of illegal copies, which infringe copyright. If you come across a website offering lots of downloads from many different bands and artists for nothing or a very small fee, then you can be pretty sure they aren't legitimate.
Using University equipment to download, upload, share or store music or movies without the permission of the copyright owner is a breach of the University’s IT Code of Practice and will cause you to be involved in disciplinary action, and to have your account suspended. You will also be vulnerable to prosecution by the media industries if they catch you. Music is particularly dangerous stuff to deal with online. The music industry, the people who own the copyright in the songs, are very keen to defend their property. In 2003, three university students in Sydney were convicted of music copyright offences and one received a jail sentence
It is not legal to play or store music copied from your CDs on University equipment, despite recent changes to Australian copyright law. The law allows you to copy a CD you own but only for private and domestic use for playing on a device that you own.
If you need more information, consult the Griffith Copyright Guide online at www.griffith.edu.au/ins/copyright/.
If that does not give you the answer, contact the University Copyright Officer by email at m.magner@griffith.edu.au
Use of University Information Technology Resources Code of Practice is available online at www.griffith.edu.au/ins/org/techmenu/security/coc.html.
Good Luck with your studies!
| Previous | INDEX | Next |
[ Site Home ]
[ webhumans | Graphics Version | Copyright Matters | Disclaimer ]
[ Site Home ]