see this selection of Information Sheets for advice on specific topics

Copyright for Students

What is copyright?

The Copyright Act gives creators of original 'works' the exclusive right to reproduce, publish, communicate, and adapt their material; and to licence, transfer,  or sell it to 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 scores, 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.

Note that copyright protects works in material form (in all formats including on the web); however, it does not protect 'ideas'.

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:

• you obtain permission from the copyright owner;
• the copyright is owned by the University;
• the material has been supplied to the University with a licence to copy;
• 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;
• the copying is covered by 'fair dealing' (see below).

Students can make copies of copyright material when it is:

Fair dealing for the purpose of research or study
Students may reproduce a 'reasonable portion' of a literary or dramatic work without permission provided that the dealing is for research or study.  The Act deems a 'reasonable portion' to mean:

• one article in any issue of a periodical publication (e.g. a journal article);
• more than one article from an issue if they are required for the same research or course of study; 
• 10% or one chapter of a work in a published edition of 10 pages or more;
• 10% of the words if the work is in an unpaginated electronic form
• any work of fewer than 15 pages contained in an anthology.

No 'reasonable portion' is defined in relation to copying a musical or artistic work, instead the dealing must be 'fair'.  The factors that you should consider are:

• the purpose and character of the dealing (e.g. copying in connection with a course is likely to be fair, but copying for research which may be used commercially would not);
• nature of the work (e.g. it may be less fair to copy a work resulting from a high degree of skill than a mundane work);
• can the work or audio-visual item be obtained within a reasonable time at an ordinary commercial price (generally, it may be fair to copy all of a work such as a book which is out-of-print, but unfair to photocopy all, or more than 10%, of a work that you can buy);
• what effect the dealing will have on the potential market (e.g. making more than one copy is less likely to be fair than making one copy);
• the amount and substance of the part being copied (e.g. it is less fair to copy a large or important part of the work than to copy a small or unimportant part).

If you copy fewer than 10% of the pages (or fewer than 10% of the words in electronic form) or one chapter, or one article in a periodical and you are sure that you meet the requirements of research or study then the copying is taken to be 'fair'.

Copies of works made as a 'fair dealing' can be used in tutorial presentation, for assignments, and for exams, for instance.  However, you cannot use those copies, or examples of your own work containing them, for any other purpose: in a portfolio, a festival or competition, on your own website, etc. If you do, then the copies are infringing copies and penalties may occur. The copyright owner's permission is required for any of those uses.

Under the moral rights legislation, you should always acknowledge the author and title of the work.

Definition of a 'reasonable portion' of material to copy

or

Fair dealing for the purpose of review or critique
Copyright work may be copied for inclusion in, for instance, an essay, 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).

Teaching Materials

Many teaching materials - Unit Readers, online readings in ECMS, PowerPoint presentations, and online lectures - contain copyright protected works copied under a number of licences paid for by the University.  It is a requirement of these licences that these works are only made available to students and staff of the University - you must not make further copies of, for instance, a downloaded lecture, to pass on to anyone else.

Student Copyright Responsibilities

• Music
• What are "moral rights"?
• The right of attribution
• The right of integrity
• Copying from the internet
• Theses
• Ownership of copyright
• Publishing your work
• Plagiarism
• Computer software
• Links to other copyright information

Music

Apart from use under the fair dealing provision, you will require permission from the copyright owner if you want to copy, record, download, communicate or perform music.

There are several collecting societies representing copyright owners, music publishers and sound recording companies. These include AMCOS, APRA, ARIA and PPCA.

What are "moral rights"?

"Moral rights" are rights relating to a creator's reputation in connection with their work and have nothing to do with morality. You must give the creator of a literary, musical, artistic or dramatic work or of a film the right to be attributed as the creator of the work or film and the right to have the integrity of the work respected. These new rights supplement the right of a creator not to have their work falsely attributed. More information on Moral Rights can be found here.

The right of attribution

You should attribute a creator when you reproduce a work or film and it should be clear and reasonably prominent, so that the person receiving a reproduction of the work or film will have notice of the creator's identity.

The right of integrity

A creator's work should not be subjected to derogatory treatment nor should you do something to a creator's work that is prejudicial to the reputation of the creator.

Copying from the internet

The internet is not a copyright-free zone.  Most material on the Internet is protected by copyright.  However, unless prevented by the terms of use on a subscription site or by those of a click-through licence, the 'fair dealing' provisions as described above also apply to works, including images, on the web.

Some websites give explicit permission for the material to be copied for certain purposes (e.g. personal, educational, and non-commercial use). You should always check the website for any such statements.

Honours Theses

Fair dealing for the purpose of research or study  allows you to include 'reasonable portions' of third party works in your thesis and to make copies of your thesis for your examiners, your supervisor(s), and yourself.

However, a thesis that includes third party material used under the 'fair dealing' provision must not be used for any purpose other than those specified above: it cannot be submitted for publication or published on a website, nor can it be entered into competitions or festivals.

If you want to publish your thesis or use it for any other purpose, and it contains copyright protected material, then the third party copyright owner's permission is required.

Whilst, under most circumstances, students retain copyright in all their work, certain non-exclusive licences are granted to third parties by University policy and the Copyright Act.

For instance, the University mandates that a copy of each Honours thesis is to be lodged with the Library; and the Act states that all or part of thesis may be copied by a third party when it for the purposes of their own study and research.  In recognition of these provisions you must include a signed Copyright Acknowledgement form with your thesis.

Masters Theses

As with Honours theses, Masters by Research theses are lodged with the Library: therefore you should include this form acknowledging both your own copyright in the thesis as well as the fact that it will be made available for copying by a third party for their own research and study.  You may also include the form in a Masters by Coursework thesis, although these are not generally held in the Library.

PhD Theses

The University participates in the Australasian Digital Theses program.  As well as a print copy, candidates for a Higher Degree by Research are required to deposit an electronic copy of their thesis with the Library to be deposited in the Digital Thesis Database. 

For information on depositing the electronic copy, and the Thesis Submission Form, go to the Library's Digital Thesis Guidelines for Authors.

If your thesis contains a 'substantial' amount of third party copyright material it must be accompanied by written confirmation from the copyright owner(s) granting their permission for the digital reproduction of their work. 

NB: the Copyright Act does not provide a definition of 'substantial', so if you need to use more than passing quotations from a copyright protected work in your thesis it is best to ask permission from the owner.  See this template letter requesting a copyright owner's permission.

For more information on copyright issues relevant to the electronic version of your thesis please go to these information sheets: Postgraduates & Copyright and Postgraduate Research Theses and the Australasian Digital Theses (ADT) Program.

Ownership of copyright

An original work created by a student is protected by copyright. Permission from the student is required by staff who want to copy or communicate a student's work. For further details on this you may refer to University Legislation, Intellectual Property Regulations - section 4.

Students who are enrolled in a unit which includes in its activities the publication, or potential publication, of their work are required as a condition of participation to give the University a non-exclusive license to publish in whole or in part via web or other formats, under the conditions the University specifies for its publications and in accordance with normal academic conventions for recognition of authorship.

Publications of student work via web pages or other public network retrievable files are to cite the University's standard Disclaimer and Copyright Notice.

Publishing your work

Copyright protection is automatic in Australia; works do not have to be registered.  However, you may want to attach a copyright notice on works that you create, whether you intend to publish it or not, to ensure that this protection is understood to be in place.

The notice should identify the owner and the year in which the work was created:

© [or Copyright]  [Your Name]  [Date of Creation] All rights reserved.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism occurs when the work of another person, or persons, is used and presented as one's own, unless the source of each quotation or piece of borrowed material is acknowledged with an appropriate citation.

The University regards very seriously any acts of cheating, or dishonesty by way of plagiarism. There are a range of penalties which may be imposed on a student for plagiarism.

Students should consult their course handbooks for information on plagiarism, or the section on 'Assessment and Academic Progress' in the Murdoch Handbook. The Teaching & Learning Centre provides information on Academic Integrity at http://www.murdoch.edu.au/teach/plagiarism/.

Computer software

• Software shall not be copied on University computers or personally owned computers on any University campus except where authorised by the copyright owner;
• Software shall not be copied on University computers or personally owned computers on any University campus except where authorised by the copyright owner;
• Software manuals may only be copied in accordance with the provisions of the University policy on copying;
• University funds shall not be used to purchase software that has been copied without approval of the copyright owner;
• Illegally copied software from any source shall not be run on computers at Murdoch University.

(With grateful acknowledgement to Curtin University of Technology, for permission to modify and use their 'Information for Students' page as the basis for this student information package)