Students' introduction to copyright

Overview

Students use copyright material in the course of their study and research, under copyright exceptions. Copyright also applies and protects works that students create, such as essays, assignments and theses. The University requires that all students respect copyright. Students who breach copyright may be subject to disciplinary action.

Copyright dos

Copyright don'ts

  • Don't download infringing material from the web, especially music & movies.
  • Don't make copyright material available on the web without permission. This includes lecture slides and recordings, articles and book chapters that are shared as teaching material. Fair dealing does not allow you to communicate these types of material on public websites.

Using copyright material for your study and research

Copyright applies to all creative and collated material, common examples are journal articles, books, films, and music. Copyright usually belongs to the person who created the work. Copyright gives the copyright owner the right to control how their work is used, adapted, disseminated, etc. Ownership of the physical or digital copy of  copyright material does not include dissemination rights or adaption rights or other copyrights.

Copyright is part of study and research. Copyright applies when:

  • Photocopying or scanning journal articles, books or other material
  • Downloading or printing information from the web
  • Including substantial extracts of other people's works in essays or assignments. Copyright material from other authors or creators that are included within works are referred to as third-party copyright material

Generally, material can be used if:

Copyright and the Web

Copyright also applies to websites. Freely accessible material is not free to share or copy. Some websites choose to make their material freely available with very few copyright restrictions. Check the terms and conditions of the website to see what is allowed and what copyright restrictions apply. The terms & conditions on websites must be adhered to. If there are no terms or conditions then only use the website as permitted under provisions in the Copyright Act, such as fair dealing.

Be aware that some material available from websites may hold infringing copies, i.e. it may be on the website without the copyright owner's permission. Do not use infringing material, otherwise you yourself will be infringing copyright and may be liable.

Linking to or bookmarking websites does not infringe copyright. However, linking to infringing sites, or directing others to infringing sites is a breach of copyright.

Always acknowledge online sources and properly reference print material.

For more information, see websites.

Music, movies and software

Many websites have music, movies & software that can be downloaded for free, unfortunately a lot of these sites are illegal. Downloading illegal material is a breach of copyright. The downloading of movies, music and software via university systems and/or by using university equipment could lead to disciplinary action from the University as well as legal action from the copyright owner.

Check the following before downloading music, movies or software, particularly free material.

  • Check the website carefully to make sure that it is a legitimate website. Read the Terms & Conditions, legitimate sites will have these. The terms and conditions will clearly state if the website owner has the copyright of the material or if the website owner has the right to grant permission to share, download, etc.
  • Use reputable website such as iTunes and abide by any contractual conditions of websites. For example, individuals are allowed to download a copy of the iTunes software for their own personal use, but they are not permitted to lend or sell the software to other people. In addition, music from iTunes can only be downloaded for personal use.

Streaming services

Abide by terms and conditions of streaming services. Streaming services generally do not provide institutional licences and only allow individual licences or household licences. These licences often come with passwords, which should not be shared with members outside of households.

Accessing movies, music and software materials for research and study purposes without infringing copyright:

  • Fair dealing for research and study can be used under certain circumstances.
  • Software - The University may have a licence for a particular piece of software, e.g. EndNote can be downloaded by students for free. Alternatively, copies of some software products may be available for use in libraries or IT Labs. More information.
  • Movies and TV programs - The University has a licence that allows University staff to record TV broadcasts for educational purposes. Lecturers may have copies of material that they can make available. Alternatively, copies of some broadcasts are available from the Giblin Eunson Library and streamed via the off-air recording service. The Giblin Eunson Library also has an extensive collection of movies & TV programs available on DVD. The library also has limited subscriptions to educational streaming services, such as  EduTV. As with other streaming services terms and conditions apply.
  • Music - The University has a licence that allows University staff to record radio broadcasts for educational purposes. Lecturers may have copies of material that they can make available.The Southbank Library has an extensive collection of music for students' research & study. The University also has a music licence that allows students to record and perform music as part of their course of study.

Personal use

The Copyright Act allows students to make copies of material for their own personal use. Not all types of material can be reproduced and conditions do apply.

Individuals are also permitted to record TV and radio broadcasts for viewing or listening to at more convenient times.

For more information, see personal use.

Copyright and your work

Any original material created by students as part of their study and research, e.g. essays, assignments or theses is protected by copyright. Students own the copyright in material that they create. This applies to written work, photographs, music, software, films, etc.

Copyright applies automatically to anything fixed in a material form, it does not apply to ideas. In Australia, copyright protection is automatically applied. There is no need to register copyright. However, it is good practice to include a copyright statement, such as (c) Fred Smith 2007. This will clearly identify the copyright owner. Most of the work created by students in the course of their studies will be unpublished work and treated as such.

Copyright owners are able to exercise exclusive rights relating to the use of their work including, the right to publish or  to make their work publicly available. Joint contributors of a work may be able to claim joint authorship and therefore joint copyright. Copyright ownership can also be affected by funding or publishing agreements. For example, Research that is funded by a grant, may contain copyright conditions, where the copyright is owned by or shared with the funding body. Shared copyright requires the agreement of all parties when copyright is being exercised. Publishing or communicating works under joint copyright will require the agreement of all parties. Copyright agreements in research funding may require the signing over of copyright, as a condition of publishing.

Fair dealing does not apply when work is published or distributed. Therefore, permission will have to be sought for any third-party copyright material that is included in student works. Be aware that making a work available on a website is considered publishing so permission will have to be sought for any third-party copyright material in the work or the third-party copyright material will have to be removed before publishing or distribution.

For more information, see Melbourne Research Office's IP webpage.

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