Requirements

The work must be a product of the author's independent skill and labour

The author must be a citizen or resident of Australia or the work must have been first published in Australia.

Ownership

The general rule of copyright is that the author is the first owner of copyright in a work.The copyright in films or sound recordings is generally owned by the producer or maker.

Some exceptions to this general rule are:

when the author assigns or transfers copyright to another person or entity

when works are created by employees in the course of their employment

when works are created or first published under the direction or control of the  government.

Material Protected by Copyright

Literary works - written texts including novels, poetry, information works, manuals, journal articles, etc.
Dramatic works - plays, film scripts, choreography and any other work intended to be performed
Musical Works - the music, the arrangement, the sheet music; note that lyrics are protected as a literary work
Artistic Works - including paintings, photographs, cartoons, maps, sculptures, craft work
Films - videos, movies, TV programs, commercials
Sound recordings - records, tapes, CDs
Published editions of works - the publisher's typesetting or typographical arrangement of a work
Computer Programs - are protected as literary works

To obtain full international protection, the copyright notice symbol © should be placed on all copies of a work along with the name of the copyright owner and the date of publication. The use of the copyright notice is not required for protection in Australia but is an effective way of notifying people that the work is protected by copyright.

Copyright Users

Fair Dealing Provisions
The Copyright Act allows use of copyright material under Fair Dealing Provisions for the purposes of research and study. Copying a "reasonable portion" of a literary, dramatic or musical work is deemed to be fair. Two requirements must be met:

the dealing must be fair

the copying must be done for the purpose of research and study

Fair Dealing applies to individual students making a copy for their own research or study not to multiple copies made by teachers for teaching purposes.

Reasonable Portion
A reasonable portion is considered to be:

10% or the work or one chapter of the pages of the work. This can be difficult to ascertain on a computer screen.

the whole or part of a journal article

Liability
A person or institution who authorises another to infringe copyright may also be liable for infringement. This can include providing equipment to teachers and students without supervision or adequate notices or failing to take adequate steps to prevent infringing copies being made.

Users of Blue Sky Web Design web-sites should read the following statement carefully.

COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
Copyright Regulations
WARNING

A copyright owner is entitled to take legal action against a person who infringes his or her copyright. Unless otherwise permitted by the Copyright Act 1968, unauthorised copying of a work in which copyright subsists may infringe the copyright in that work.

Where making a copy of a work is a fair dealing under section 40 of the Copyright Act 1968, making that copy is not an infringement of copyright in the work.

It is a fair dealing to make a copy, for the purpose of research or study, of one or more articles on the same subject matter in periodical publication or, in the case of any other work, of a reasonable portion of the work. In the case of a published work that is not less than 10 pages and is not an artistic work, 10% of the total number of pages, or one chapter, is a reasonable portion.

More extensive copying may constitute fair dealing for the purpose of research or study. To determine whether it does, it is necessary to have regard to the criteria set out in sub-section 40(2) of the Copyright Act 1968.

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To view  Blue Sky Web Design's  copyright statement.

© Blue Sky Web Design 1999