Using copyright material in lectures

The Copyright Act allows you to show or perform copyright material, such as films, in lectures or tutorials. There are no limits on the types of material or the amount you can show. You can show either an excerpt of the work or the work in full. The audience must be restricted to students and it must be for educational purposes.

These provisions do not apply to lectures, conferences or other events that are open to the public or are not for educational purposes - see public events.

If you need to reproduce the material in order to show it in lectures for example using images in a PowerPoint presentation or make a compilation of music or film excerpts), limits will apply - see limits on using copyright material for teaching.

Recording lectures

If you record your lecture, and that recording includes copyright material, then you must comply with certain conditions. The provisions that allow any copyright material to be shown in class do not apply when that material is recorded. If you record copyright material as part of a lecture, it is subject to same restrictions as if you were making material available on the LMS. You must:

  1. Limit the types and amounts of material.
  2. Acknowledge all material with a proper and accurate citation. You can do this by including a citation in the PowerPoint or by making an announcement in class.
  3. Display the required copyright warning notices. If the lecture is being recorded via Lecture Capture the notice will be inserted automatically by the Lecture Capture System.
  4. Restrict access to staff and students involved in the subject. Additional access can be granted to external people who assist with teaching or administering the subject via the LMS.
  5. Pause the lecture recording while copyright material is in use, and resume the recording once completed. See this guide for further information.
  6. Remove any copyright material from the lecture recording. See the Lecture Capture - managing recordings guide for further information.

In some cases, you may not be able to record material that you have shown in class. For example, you can show a film or TV show in class that you have purchased on DVD. However, if you record the lecture, you must use a broadcast copy or seek permission.

If you are unsure if material can be included or not, please contact us.