Copyright Policy
Responsible officer: Deputy Vice-Chancellor
Designated officer: Executive Director, Information Services
Council approval: C05/33, 7 June 2005
Last amended: -
Related policies:
Related legislation:
- Copyright Act 1968 as amended
- Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cwth)
- Crimes Act 1914
Related guidelines and procedures:
Definitions
Reference to "the Act" means the Commonwealth Copyright Act 1968.
Copyright is concerned with the expression of ideas in an original manner in a material form. This includes literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, computer programs, films, sound recordings and broadcasts. Copyright protection also applies to the published edition. A work does not have to be published or bear the copyright notice to be protected.
Third party copyright material includes material in which the exclusive rights granted under the Act belong to a copyright owner other than the staff member or student wishing to use the material. These exclusive rights may include the rights to reproduce or copy, publish, perform, communicate or adapt. Use of third party copyright material may be authorised by agreement, by exclusions within the Act, by licence, or by statutory licence under Part VA, VB or VC of the Act.
Course packs includes any compilation of third party copyright material supplied to students in hardcopy or electronic format including printed books of readings, and course materials burnt to CD-ROM or DVD.
Take Down Notice means a notice, whether or not in the form prescribed in the Copyright regulations, issued by or on behalf of a rights holder to a University identifying the copyright material claimed to have been infringed.
Overview
The purpose of this Policy is to outline responsibilities regarding the use of third party copyright material for teaching, learning, research, or administrative purposes with the objectives of:
- ensuring compliance and reducing the University's exposure to the risks associated with the use of third party copyright material
- promoting compliance by the staff, students and controlled entities with the Act and any contractual obligations
- assisting staff and students to have maximum access to, and to make full legal use of, materials including those: acquired on a commercial basis, available on a non-commercial basis through Open Access and Creative Commons licences or agreements, or acquired under statutory or other licences and
- promoting the deposit of material in the University's institutional repositories
Scope
This policy addresses the use of copyright material and does not address the creation and/or commercialisation of copyright material by University staff or students, which is addressed in the Intellectual Property Policy.
Policy
1. General compliance responsibilities
1.1 All staff and students must ensure that they understand and comply with the legal restrictions and obligations regarding the use of third party copyright material.
1.2 All staff are encouraged to attend at least one copyright training session and read and understand relevant information provided on the USC copyright webpage.
1.3 Course coordinators are responsible for the copyright compliance of all third party copyright material supplied to students.
1.4 Students are responsible for any copyright infringement resulting directly or indirectly from their own actions.
1.5 All staff and students must accept the copyright conditions of use before gaining authorised access to the University network.
1.6 University disciplinary policies and procedures may apply where staff or students fail to comply with this Policy or the Act.
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2. Centralised compliance responsibilities
2.1 The University adopts a centralised management approach to copyright compliance.
2.2 The Designated Officer may nominate functional areas of the University including Faculties and departments or systems for the purposes of compliance with the Act and any collecting agency requirements.
2.3 The first point of contact for assistance with copyright issues is the Copyright Coordinator who will provide direction and guidance to staff in copyright compliance and record keeping practices.
3. Compliance and audits
3.1 The University relies on the exceptions to the exclusive rights provisions under the Act, which allow staff and students to copy or communicate material without recording or payment of remuneration subject to certain conditions.
3.2 The University enters into a number of commercial arrangements for access to copyright material contained in electronic databases subject to certain conditions.
3.3 The University enters into copyright agreements negotiated through the Australian Vice- Chancellors Committee and/or through declared collecting societies, which distribute the funds to authors, copyright owners and publishers.
3.4 The University may undertake copyright audits at its discretion in order to comply with the provisions of the Act and/or the terms and conditions of its contractual arrangements.
4. University network systems
4.1 The University may impose conditions on access to the university network, systems and databases in order to comply with the provisions of the Act and/or the terms and conditions of its contractual arrangements.
4.2 The Designated Officer, or her nominee, has the authority to intervene in the distribution of non-compliant materials including requesting IT Services to recall materials already distributed; or to remove access to online materials; or to remove materials from the network systems.
4.3 The Designated Officer, or her nominee, has the authority to require material to be taken down from the USC network system where they have knowledge that a third party Take Down Notice has been issued or have reasonable grounds to believe a copyright infringement may have occurred.
5. Moral rights
5.1 To ensure compliance with the Moral Rights provisions of the Act protecting an author's creativity all staff and students are required when using any material that has not been authored or created by them:
- to identify the author of the work
- not to falsely claim the work as their own
- not to subject the work to derogatory treatment including mutilation, material distortion/alteration or doing anything prejudicial to the author's honour and reputation
6. University institutional repositories
6.1 In order to enhance scholarly communication, research dissemination and open access, University staff, students or other authorised personnel engaged in research may be encouraged to self-archive copies of their research outputs to appropriate USC repositories. All materials submitted will meet third party copyright requirements.
7. Open access and creative commons
7.1 Staff and students are encouraged to use materials on Open Access forums and Creative Commons licences made publicly available under simplified copyright compliance requirements.
8. Making material available online
8.1 All third party copyright material to be made available online, or in other digital formats such as CD-ROM or DVD, must be centrally managed by a system nominated by the Designated Officer.
9. Course packs
9.1 Course coordinators must ensure that all course packs supplied to students are compliant with the Act.
10. University art collection
10.1 The acquisition, commissioning, display, promotion and marketing of artistic works for use in connection with the University's art collection will be compliant with copyright legislation.
11. Use of premises
11.1 Premises in which the University exercises control (including hiring out) will not be used for any purpose, which infringes the Act.
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