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0 REUSABLE CONTENT (common elements): Copyright

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Material out of copyright

This information only applies if the images, sound recordings or films you are using are still within the period of copyright protection (Monash Intranet).

NOTE: Other issues such as privacy, confidentiality or indigenous cultural protocols could still apply.

  • Text: Life of the author plus 70 years unless the author died before 1 Jan 1955. In that case the work is in the public domain.
  • Images:  life of the artist/photographer plus 70 years. Note: In Australia any photograph taken before 1955 is out of copyright.
  • Films: 70 years after the film is released
  • Sound recordings: 70 years after date of first release.
  • Television broadcasts: 50 years after the first broadcast.

Attribution

Attribution is a requirement under the moral rights provisions of copyright law but is also good professional practice, not only in a university context. Creators and members of the public want to be acknowledged when their material is used. Consider how you would like your work to be acknowledged.

For more information on different citing and referencing styles including guides and tutorials see Citing and referencing online at Monash.

Using Creative Commons resources

Creative commons is a type of licensing that often allows use in research or teaching. But not all creative commons licenses are the same.  There are six main licence types with quite different terms and conditions. These terms must be followed, just like any other licensed material that you use.

Creative Commons licence types: Attribution (CC BY); Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA); Attribution-NoDerivs (CC BY-ND); Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC); Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA); Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)

All Creative Commons licences require attribution. You can list the licence name in full, use an abbreviation, or use a button. Best practice attribution is:

or a link to the artist or photographer and a link to the license terms themselves See 'How to attribute a Creative Commons photo'.

Non-commercial use may restrict use of the image on social media where personal postings may be moneterised (by selling advertising or information)

No derivatives means you are not permitted to alter the image e.g. may restrict ability to crop or change the colour tone

Share alike means you can only use or made the new work available under the same conditions as the creative commons material you want to use e.g. if you copy a short film that has a creative commons license non-commercial share-alike, that means your dissemination of anything including that film must also be non-commercial and licensed under creative commons as share-alike.

NOTE: Anyone can take an image and put a creative commons license on it. Consider whether it is likely that the webmaster or supposed copyright owner actually can make the image available e.g. ask whether an ordinary user would have the rights to popular film or TV images or cartoons

Other useful licensed databases for education resources are at Copyright free and Creative Commons resources Library guide.

Consult the Copyright Adviser for further advice.

Using copyright material

Whether you are writing for assignments, researching and publishing or creating content in the workplace, you will use copyright material owned by other people. If the material is not out of copyright, you need to consider whether you can use it under a copyright exception, whether a licence applies or if you need to get permission. Ask yourself these questions:

  1. Did you have to agree to any terms or conditions to get access to the material? eg a click box stating you would not publish it
  2. Does the use fall under a 'Fair Dealing' purpose? eg research and study, criticism and review or parody and satire
  3. Is the dealing fair? eg is there harm to the owner in your use? Could you purchase the item instead of copying it? 
  4. Does your use fall within the explicit licence terms of the material? eg is there a creative commons licence on the work
  5. If none of these apply, do you need to permission to use the material from the copyright owner?

You can't usually rely on fair dealing for making multiple copies, or making material available to the general public (publishing). These activities would require permission from the copyright owners (usually the publisher or the author/photographer/creator). Permission templates are available.

Contact the Copyright Adviser if you have any questions.

Copyright and research

You can use images in your research under copyright law as long as

  1. You haven’t agreed to terms of use that prevent use in research eg non-commercial use only and the research is actually funded by a commercial partner and
  2. The use falls under a 'Fair Dealing' purpose eg research and study, criticism and review and
  3. The use is fair eg is there harm to the owner in your use? Could you purchase the item instead of copying it?  Or
  4. Your use falls within the explicit licence terms of the image or
  5. You get permission to use the image from the copyright owner.
  6. You haven't removed a digital watermark or other electronic rights management information without permission from the copyright owner.

You can't usually rely on fair dealing for making multiple copies, or making images available to the general public (publishing). These activities would require permission from the copyright owners (usually the photographer, the artist, the publisher or an Image library such as Getty Images). All images should be properly attributed. See Moral Rights.

Consult the Copyright Adviser for further advice and refer to the general information on Fair Dealing and on Using images in your assignments, coursework or research.

You can use audiovisual material in your research under copyright law as long as

  1. You haven’t agreed to terms of use that prevent use in research eg non-commercial use only and the research is actually funded by a commercial partner and
  2. The use falls under a 'Fair Dealing' purpose eg research and study, criticism and review and
  3. The use is fair eg is there harm to the owner in your use? Could you purchase the item instead of copying it?  Or
  4. Your use falls within the explicit licence terms of the audiovisual material or
  5. You get permission to use the material from the copyright owner.
  6. You are not circumventing any technological protection measures in copying eg commercial DVDs are protected by CSS which is supposed to prevent copying, although it is easily bypassed. Using software that copies DVDs may breach these provisions. See FAQs
  7. You haven't removed a digital watermark or other electronic rights management information without permission from the copyright owner.

You can't usually rely on fair dealing for making multiple copies, or making material available to the general public (eg publishing by placing it online). These activities would normally require permission from the copyright owners (usually the film studio, the TV station or channel, the director or producer or the distributor).

See the databases tab in this guide for information about the library’s licensed audio and audiovisual databases that can be linked to in moodle or from lecture slides. Another source of material is TV broadcasts or legitimate DVDs. These can be copied under 'Fair Dealing' but it is unclear how much can be copied because fairness is determined on a case by case basis.

Youtube has legitimate channels such as Vevo as well as other content placed there by the rightsholder. This can be played in class or you can embed a YouTube video in your presentation or moodle site. Ensure the content you are showing is authorised as Youtube includes much potentially infringing material.

Performers rights

There is separate copyright in performances. If you are recording a performance or being recorded as a performer, the performer has the right to refuse being recorded, over the use of the recording and may have ownership rights over sound recordings of live performances. Performers also have the right to be credited as the performer in the recording. See Moral Rights.

More information is at Recording performances.

Please contact the Copyright Adviser if you are unsure of the status of the material.

Copyright and teaching

You can use images in your teaching under copyright law as long as

  1. You haven’t agreed to any terms and conditions preventing this use eg you haven’t clicked on an ‘I agree’ button that you will only use the image for personal use and
  2. You follow the terms of the Educational copyright licence meaning
    •  Access is restricted to students and staff of Monash (through authcate) and
    •  the copyright warning notice appears before the image eg first slide of powerpoint or
  3. Teaching is already permitted by the explicit licence terms eg ‘free for education’ or
  4. You have written permission to use the image for teaching eg an email from the copyright owner
  5. You haven't removed a digital watermark or other electronic rights management information without permission from the copyright owner.

NOTE: Some images are online without permission of the copyright owner. If there are no citation details (especially name of photographer) this may show that the image is unauthorised. Any licence terms attached would not necessarily apply. Permission has to come from the legitimate copyright owner.

All images should be properly attributed. See Moral Rights.

See Using images in course materials or consult the Copyright Adviser for further advice or information.

You can use audiovisual materials in class where

  1. You haven’t agreed to terms of use that prevent use in teaching eg itunes state for personal use only and
  2. It is a TV, cable or radio broadcast that has been copied from the direct broadcast see Using AV in teaching or
  3. It is a legitimate copy you have purchased or obtained from the library or downloaded from a legitimate source ie no file sharing sites or
  4. It is on Youtube but put there by the copyright owner eg ABC, National Geographic, not just a fan or other user and
  5. The material from Youtube is streamed in class or embedded or linked to in Moodle rather than being downloaded, unless  specific permission for downloading is given by the copyright owner
  6. You haven't removed a digital watermark or other electronic rights management information without permission from the copyright owner.

You can copy audiovisual material for class where

  1. You haven’t agreed to terms of use that prevent your copying eg some audiovisual databases may require linking to their content only, not copying and
  2. You are not circumventing any technological protection measures in copying eg commercial DVDs are protected by CSS which is supposed to prevent copying, although it is easily bypassed. Using software that copies DVDs may breach these provisions. See FAQs 
  3. Use falls under the Using AV in teaching or
  4. Use falls within the licence terms from the copyright owner eg videos online state you can copy for educational purposes or
  5. You get permission from the copyright owner
  6. You haven't removed a digital watermark or other electronic rights management information without permission from the copyright owner.

NOTE: IT is preferable to stream or embed Youtube videos rather than copy because many of them do not allow downloading or copying.

Please contact the Copyright Adviser if you are unsure of the status of the material (whether it is legitimate or not).

All work used should be properly attributed, see Moral Rights. See the general information on Using audio or audio-visual content for educational purposes.

Performers rights

There is separate copyright in performances. If you are recording a performance or being recorded as a performer, the performer has the right to refuse being recorded and has rights over the use of the recording. Performers also have the right to be credited as the performer in the recording.

See Moral Rights.

More information is at Recording performances.

Please contact the Copyright Adviser if you are unsure of the status of the material.