Why copyright matters

Copyright subsists once an idea is expressed in a material form, for example, written, photographed, recorded or filmed. The creator is automatically assigned copyright. They have control over who can copy, publish, perform or put online the resultant work. As a student you will need to use other people’s copyright material and must ensure that you have a legal right to do so. The Internet is not a copyright-free zone. You can’t assume just because it’s easy to copy that it’s legal!

Photocopying, emailing or sharing online for your own individual study or research

The 'Fair dealing' provisions of the Copyright Act permit the use of the following material for the purpose of individual research and study, or for the purposes of criticism or review between individual students:

• a 'reasonable portion' of a work in written form (books, journal articles, selections from conference proceedings)
  • One whole chapter of a book, report or other published literary work, or 10% of the total pages of the work, whichever is the greater.
  • 10% of the number of words of a literary work in electronic form, or one whole chapter, whichever is the greater.
  • One article from a single issue of a journal or newspaper, or more than one, so long as the articles are for the same research or course of study.
• still images (photos, diagrams, graphs, maps) so long as these have not been separately published in hard-copy and are not available for purchase at a reasonable price and within a reasonable period of time (e.g. as a poster, post-card or print from a gallery or bookshop). When using still images that are available online, you should avoid sites that are obviously infringing someone else’s copyright.

Does 'Fair dealing' enable students to make copies of films, videos, DVDs or music CDs?

No, it may not. The only instances you could possibly rely on the 'Fair dealing' provisions in the Act for protection against copyright infringement when making a copy of a film, DVD, CD or similar, would be when

• you cannot obtain the item within a reasonable period of time and at a reasonable price
• you can guarantee that the copy you propose to make would not affect the potential market for the item

The nature of the film, DVD, video or CD item (whether it is a newly released commercial film or music CD for example) and the amount copied would also be a deciding factor in assessing whether or not the copying could be considered as 'Fair dealing'.

So you should be extremely careful before copying any film, video, DVD or music material for your own individual research or study.

Copying and sharing online when you create an assignment, contribute to discussion spaces or present to the class

From time to time you may need, as part of your assessment, to present copied materials to your peers and instructors. You may wish to distribute a photocopy of a chapter of a book among the other class members; upload an image onto a unit CloudDeakin site for discussion; or show part of a TV program when giving a class talk or presentation.

In most cases, you will be able to rely on the 'Fair dealing' provisions of the Copyright Act for these sorts of uses.

However, you should exercise caution when copying or sharing online with your peers and instructors audio-visual material such as films, DVDs, CDs etc. Make sure that you can justify your usage as 'fair'. When sourcing audio-visual materials online, you should beware of sites that are already infringing the owner's copyright. Sites with user-submitted content such as YouTube fall into this category.

Acknowledge your sources!

One of the most important aspects of copyright concerns the right of the author or creator of a work to be acknowledged. You need to clearly indicate, preferably with the material and in accordance with the standard citation procedures adopted by your faculty or discipline, the author and the source of any material that is not your own.

Similarly, even if you adapt someone else's work to create a work of your own - perhaps a diagram or table containing data which you would like to present with your own data - it is advisable to clearly indicate that your 'work' (diagram, table, etc. ) 'is based on or adapted from a model or method created by [the author or creator's name] in the following publication … ' [give the proper citation or at least give their name and the source details for their original work, diagram, table in an appropriate referencing style].

The 'right of acknowledgment' forms part of the 'Moral Rights' provisions in the Copyright Act:

1. the right to be correctly attributed as the authors/creators of that work.
2. the right not to have authorship of the work falsely attributed.
3. the right to prevent a person from treating their work in a manner prejudicial to the author's honour or reputation.

Further information on plagiarism (passing off someone else's ideas or work as your own) is available at the study skills website.

The University has strict policies on Plagiarism and collusion. You should read the policies in the Guide at:

Plagiarism and Collusion - Operational Policy (opens in a new window)
Plagiarism and Collusion - Procedure (opens in a new window)

Use of IT facilities

The University absolutely forbids the use of its computing and communications facilities for any purpose which would breach copyright. Any breach may lead to disciplinary action, including loss of access privileges and reporting of the incident to the appropriate Discipline Committee, according to University legislation and policy. The University will remove any alleged infringing material on its information systems without prior notification.

Research students

If you are conducting research there are copyright issues to consider in relation to publishing your material. See the information on the Copyright for research students page.

After your time as a Deakin student

For your own research you will still be able to rely on the 'Fair dealing' provisions described above. However, different rules will apply to the use of third-party material in your employment and you will probably require copyright permission.

For further information, see the Australian Copyright Council website at:

www.copyright.org.au

back to top