Comprehensive Documents

The Copyright Act

The Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) protects all copyright In Australia. ECU has a strong commitment to adhere to the Act and expects all its students and staff to abide by the Act.

Radio and Television Copying and Communication

Part VA of the Copyright Act 1968 provides educational institutions with an exception to copyright infringement where copying and communication is done by or on behalf of the institution for its educational purposes. The copyright owner’s permission is not required.

This educational statutory licence is administered by Screenrights (the Audio Visual Copyright Society) a government gazetted collecting society representing copyright owner and publishers.

Multimedia Resources in the Library maintain a catalogue of the University's TV and radio broadcast collection.

No limits apply to the amount that is copied; cost is based on number of minutes copied and communicated. Advertisements should not be included. Advertisement can be copied, but they must be reported and paid for.

What are Educational Purposes?

The educational purposes of the University include copies made and/or communicated to:

teach students;
make available to students as part of a course of study at the University;
make a copy for the University library or elsewhere (e.g. held by a staff member) as a teaching resource;
administer students and courses.

What is a Communication?

The right of ‘communication to the public’ is a technology neutral right that includes making material available to be viewed or downloaded (for example, on a website) or sending material as an electronic file via e-mail. These uses are referred to as ‘electronic use’ . Specific conditions apply.

Copying a TV or Radio Broadcast
Requests for analogue copying of a TV and radio broadcast should be directed to the campus Multimedia Resources in the Library who will produce good quality copies and comply the legal marking (labelling) requirements.

Where a staff member makes a TV (including cable or satellite) or Radio copy on behalf of the University be it in analogue or digital format, the staff member making the copy is responsible for complying with the legal marking and reporting requirements.

All copies of TV or Radio broadcasts must be clearly "marked" as follows:

This material has been copied by or on behalf of EDITH COWAN UNIVERSITY pursuant to Part VA of the Copyright Act 1968.

(Name of program) was copied from (channel or source of transmission) transmitted on (date) at (time).

Copied on (date) *This is only required if you make a subsequent copy after it was broadcast*

Only legally "marked" TV (including cable and satellite) and radio copies may be shown for the educational purposes of the University.

Preview Period
A Preview Period of 14 days from the date of broadcast allows for review of the Broadcast Copy to determine whether it should be retained or destroyed. A Preview Copy must not be shown for any other purpose.

Copying and Communication in Digital Format or 'Electronic Use'
If you wish to make a digital copy of a broadcast, or make a digital copy available online, or electronically transmit such a copy (eg by email) to students or another member of staff, you MUST ensure that the copy contains the electronic use notice and complies with other requirements.

‘Electronic Use’ Notice
Each electronic copy or communication made under either educational statutory licence MUST contain the following 'electronic use' notice, prominently displayed.

COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

Copyright Regulations 1969

WARNING
This material has been copied and communicated to you by or on behalf of EDITH COWAN UNIVERSITY pursuant to Part VB of the Copyright Act 1968 (the Act).

The material in this communication may be subject to copyright under the Act. Any further copying or communication of this material by you may be the subject of copyright protection under the Act.

Do not remove this notice.

Restrict Access

The University is required, under the educational statutory licence to ensure that access to copyright works made available on-line is restricted to those people entitled to receive access, e.g. staff and students of the University.

However there may be a cost advantage if material is made available ONLY to those students who need to receive it – e.g. limited to students enrolled in the unit for whom the material has been made available.

Under the current licence (expiry 31.12.2002) payment is not based on the number of times the material made available on-line or the number of students to whom an electronic communication is transmitted.

However, it is expected that Copyright Tribunal hearings to determine a rate of payment for electronic communication, will consider the number of students/staff who access licensed communications (e.g. the number of ‘hits’ on the material or the number of students enrolled in the unit).

Period available on-line

Material communicated under the educational statutory licence can remain on-line indefinitely. However, there is deemed to be a fresh reproduction and a fresh communication at the end of each 12 month period that the material remains available on-line.

Under the current licence (expiry 31.12.2002) there is no payment for electronic communication directly related to the length of time the material remains available on-line, but it is expected that there will be either a direct or indirect charge for each 12 months period material remains available on-line.

The University is developing appropriate systems to identify when material made available on-line is no longer required and remove it.

Maintain records

It is important to maintain records of the date licensed communications are made available on-line or if e-mailed, the number of recipients of the material, together with details of the work and its source.