see these information sheets to download advice on specific copyright topics

Copyright for Staff

What is copyright?

The Copyright Act gives creators of original 'works' the exclusive right to reproduce, publish, communicate, and adapt their material; and to control the way it is used by other people.

What are 'works'?

Works protected by the Act are defined as:

literary - most fictional and non-fictional written material, including tables, computer programmes, and instruction manuals;
dramatic - play scripts, film scripts, choreographic score, and scenarios;
musical - scores or other notations (lyrics are protected as literary works);
artistic - paintings, sculptures, etc., technical drawings and models, photographs, diagrams, and buildings;
cinematograph film - the visual images and sound track of a film, including those available on video, DVD, cd-rom, or a website;
sound recordings - any analogue, digital, or electronic recording, including MPEG or MP3 files;
published editions of works - the way in which an individual edition of a work is presented, including typesetting etc.

Exceptions under the Act

There are exceptions to the exclusive rights enjoyed by owners of copyright in literary, dramatic and musical works. There is no copyright infringement if:

• the copyright is owned by the University;
• the material has been supplied to the University with a licence to copy;
• you obtain permission from the copyright owner;
• the proposed copying and/or communication falls within provisions in the Copyright Act that allow 'insubstantial amounts' of copying without payment; or
• the copying is covered by the statutory licence; by this licence Universities pay creators, through Copyright Agency Limited (CAL), for use of their copyright works.

Staff can make copies of copyright material when it is:

Fair dealing for the purpose of research or study
Staff may copy a 'reasonable portion' - e.g. 10% or 1 chapter of a work; 1 article of a journal issue (more if they are required for the same research or course of study) - of copyright items for private study or research.

Fair dealing for the purpose of review or critique
Copyright work may be copied for inclusion in, for instance, a conference paper or journal article for the purpose of commenting critically on the material. Any such use should cite the work and author (unless the author is anonymous or has agreed or directed that they not be named).

Copying for teaching purposes
Under the CAL licence staff may copy material for use in non-electronic readers; and make any number of hardcopies of copyright work, e.g. for handouts. Staff must ensure that any copyright material copied for teaching purposes:

• is provided only to students who are enrolled in an award based course at Murdoch University;
• falls within the reasonable portion limits set by the Act; e.g. 1 chapter or 10% of a book, or one article (more than one may be copied if all subsequent articles are on the same topic as the first) from a journal issue;
• is fully attributed.

For information about providing copyright protected print resources to Murdoch students based at overseas partner institutions please go to the information sheet Offshore Teaching Materials and Copyright .

Putting copyright material online

When Unit Readers and supplementary readings of copyright works are to be placed online they must be managed through the Electronic Course Materials System  ('e-reserve') - links can be made to ECMS from WebCT, but copyright works must not be housed in a WebCT site unless you have received permission from the copyright owner. 

For more information on ECMS go to http://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/for/staff/ecmsguide.html, or phone the Library reserve staff on 9360.2745

Using copyright audiovisual materials

The Screenrights licence allows the copying and communication of any off-air broadcast transmissions whether from television (including cable and satellite channels) and radio (including podcasts). Copies made under the licence are known as ‘Screenrights copies’ or ‘Screenrights recordings’.

Screenrights copies of films, documentaries, etc., may be played in lectures or tutorials, and may also be recorded in Lectopia for communication online to authorised users (i.e. staff and students of the institution).

Screenrights recordings can be made at home, or by AVS on request. See Copying Off-Air Radio and Television Broadcasts for more detail.

Screenrights recordings may also be obtained from EnhanceTV, TapeServices, or from other university libraries.  Please speak to your Subject Librarian for further information about these options.

Using copyright music and sound recordings

The Tertiary Music Licence (TML) allows the performance, copying, and communication of music and sound recordings from a repertoire in which copyright belongs to members of the music societies APRA, ARIA, AMCOS, and PPCA.

Some of the educational activities covered under the TML include playing music directly form an original source in a lecture; providing 'listenings' via ECMS/eReserve; dubbing music and distributing copies to students; and making video recordings of University events that include music or sound recordings from the repertoire.

Lectopia recordings that incorporate music should be made available only via streaming - please let AVS know when a lecture should be disabled from downloading.

The TML does not cover student or Guild activities.

The TML does not cover any music downloaded from the web even when it is acquired from a legitimate source.

See more detail in the information sheets on the Tertiary Music Licence and Q & A about the TML.

Links to Information Sheets

Copyright Overview for Staff
Copying Off-Air Radio, Satellite, Cable, and Television Broadcasts
Copying Out-of-Print Material
Definition Of A 'Reasonable Portion' Of Material To Copy
Duration of Copyright
LMS and Copyright Materials
LMS, Copyright, and Student Discussion Groups
Making Handouts for In-Class Teaching
Making & Marking Copies Of work For Students With A Print Disability
Moral Rights
Music and Copyright - the TML
Music and Copyright - Q & A
Screenrights, Lectopia and Audio-Visual Material
Unit Readers on CD-Rom