Information on copyright provided by the Library does not constitute legal advice. If in doubt, seek legal advice before copying a work.

The Australian Copyright Council provides many useful resources that explain how copyright law works and how this affects your use of material that may be protected by copyright.

The copyright status tool

At the bottom of each record in the Library catalogue, you will see a 'Copyright Status' tab. This information is also shown in the Copyright tab of the record in Trove.

The copyright status tool calculates an estimated copyright status based on information recorded in catalogue records using the MARC standard. This status is intended as an indicator only and should not be relied upon for legal decisions.

In cases where information required to calculate copyright status is missing or ambiguous, the estimate of copyright status may be inaccurate. If the work contains any underlying material, such as a script, music or illustration, these may have different copyright terms. If the calculator cannot make a determination, it will return a status of 'undetermined' or 'uncertain' and you should contact us for more information about copying.

The Australian Copyright Council's fact sheet on Duration of Copyright may be helpful when using the copyright status tool.

Your responsibilities

Determine whether a copyright permission is necessary

It is your responsibility to determine whether the work you want to copy or re-use requires copyright permission. Permission from the copyright owner may be necessary where:

• the material you wish to copy is protected by copyright
• your copying is not insubstantial
• your copying does not fall within an exception in the Copyright Act.

To determine the copyright status of the work you want to copy, we suggest that you first try searching for the work in the Library Catalogue or on Trove and follow the 'Check copyright status' link. Please note, that the copyright status information on Trove is a computer-generated estimate and is not legal advice.

When you are determining whether permission is required, do not forget that multiple copyrights can subsist in the same item. This includes, for instance, where a book includes photographs or illustrations that have separate copyright from the text, potentially requiring you to obtain more than one permission.

If in doubt, it may be best to assume that a work is in copyright and that you need to get permission.

Get permission

If permission is required, you will need to find the copyright owner. To help protect yourself against legal action, you should seek to obtain the copyright owner's permission in writing before you copy or re-use the work. The copyright owner has the right to refuse you permission, to set conditions and/or to ask you to pay a fee for permission.

If you need the Library to undertake the copying for you, and your request does not fall within an exception in the Copyright Act, a Library staff member will need to see evidence of the copyright owner's permission before the copy is made.

Adhere to moral rights

You also have a responsibility to ensure that your copying or re-use of a work does not infringe moral rights. For instance, you should credit the work using the author(s) preferred form(s) of attribution. If the author is not known, then 'author unknown' is an appropriate description. 'Anonymous' should be used where the author intended not to be identified.

In no circumstances should you credit the work to someone else or to yourself.

You should not treat the work in a derogatory way.

What happens if you infringe copyright

In cases of copyright infringement, it is usual for the copyright owner to contact the alleged infringer to explain the nature of their complaint. Many disputes are resolved at this stage, and pointing to your good faith may help in such negotiations. However, if you do infringe copyright, the owner has the right to sue you, and a court may order a variety of remedies.

Under current law, it is no defence to say that you did not know you were infringing copyright or that you used reasonable efforts to locate the copyright owner. That said, the Copyright Act also makes certain activities a criminal offence.

Copyright glossary

Copying

The act of copying on a photocopier or scanner, taking a digital camera shot, downloading from the internet or the Library making a copy for you.

Made public

When (if ever) a work has been made public will now be important when calculating the copyright term of works, films and sound recordings. A work will be 'made public' by or with permission of the copyright owner upon publication, public performance, communication to the public, and exhibition.

Public domain works

Works where copyright has expired.

Published works

Works of which reproductions have been supplied to the public, such as books, newspapers, magazines, most maps, commercially-made music CDs, television broadcasts.

Rare and unique works

Examples from the Library's collection include unpublished works and rare books.

Re-use

Using a copyrighted work in a print or web publication or website, in a performance, adaptation, broadcast, exhibition, screening and even making a translation of a work.

Unpublished works

Works of which reproductions have not been supplied to the public. These can include architectural plans; archival material including diaries, letters and the records of businesses and organisations; art works; hand-drawn maps and music scores; oral history sound recordings; and photographs.