Introduction
As a student you use lots of different information and resources as part of your study but also as part of your own life. Many of you use modern technologies such as computers, mobile phones, VCRs to “do things”, such as work, study, play, stay in touch and be entertained.
As you do school work and assignments you use, and sometimes create copyright materials. Some of you will already know about copyright law. For others it might be a new area, and if it is, then have a look at Copyright basics.
In the last two years copyright law has gone through big changes to keep up with the ways that people today are using information, and also with new technology that can store and deliver information in different ways.
You need to understand these changes in the law because they affect your study and also your future in Australia’s knowledge society.
The Copyright Aware website updates you on several issues:
- new moral rights for creators;
- copyright law in the digital realm; and
- higher charges to schools for copying and making available copyright materials to you as students.
Changes in copyright law and licences
Moral rights
Creators play a unique role in bringing new works into the world. Moral rights are the legal recognition of that special relationship. Moral rights say that a creator has the right to be identified as the originator of their work.
As moral rights concern the personal connection between creators and their creative works they cannot be bought or sold.
Under the Copyright Act creators are now entitled to:
- to be named and identified as the creator of the work, (the right of attribution);
- to not have their work attributed to someone else (false attribution); and
- to stop others making changes to their work or treating their work in any way which might harm their honour or reputation (the right of integrity).
In general moral rights apply to all literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works and films, which are protected by copyright.
How might you infringe moral rights in your schoolwork? Here are the most likely ways:
- By not identifying the creator in any work that you reproduce, exhibit or transmit.
- By falsely attributing the work to someone other than the creator.
- By treating a work in a derogatory way, that is doing something that damages the creator’s reputation such as distorting, mutilating or altering the work.
Of course it is not an infringement of moral rights when the creator has consented to actions that would otherwise be considered an infringement.
Digital material and copyright law
There have been big changes in copyright law recently to make sure that it covers the Internet and new ways that people like you are using and passing on information.
These change were made through the passing of The Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Act 2000. For you the big news is that electronic resources and online materials are now definitely covered by copyright law.
Some changes in the new legislation are more directly relevant to your studies and are summarised below. The legislation:
- Introduces a new “technology-neutral” right of communication, which covers copyright owners communicating material to people electronically. The law now recognises their right to use any technology, say for instance sending material by e-mail, or making material available online.
- Clarifies that first digitisation, the right to convert copyright material into electronic form, sits with the copyright owner. If you use technology to change hard copy material into electronic form, when it has never been in this form, you could be breaking the law. There are steep fines for doing this. If in doubt check with your librarian.
- Extends the fair dealing provision, in the Copyright Act to digital content. This means that as a student you can access, within set rules, works in electronic form for your own research and study purposes.
- Bars tampering with electronic rights management information.
- Bars the supply of devices or services that circumvent technological protection measures and broadcast decoders devices which copyright owners use to protect digital product.
Hardcopy material
Students and libraries don't have to pay to copy under the library or research or study provisions, but educational institutions do pay copying fees. These fees are paid to copyright owners, through copyright collecting societies such as Copyright Agency Limited and Screenrights
A new charging structure for schools using hardcopy copyright materials, under the statutory provision of the Copyright Act was set early in 2002. Basically the new charging regime means that schools pay:
- a new rate based on a per page rate for copying (it used to be based on a set amount per student); and
- different charging rates based on the type of material being copied and the durability of the copy.
Most schools do not pay this licence fee directly from their own budgets, instead it is paid by central schools authorities. The ongoing increases in both digital and hardcopy reproduction means schools and students need to get copyright smart. This update is to make you aware that nothing you receive is “free”; it’s just that you might not have to pay for it directly.
This big increase is also significant for schools because a rate for digital copying has not yet been set.
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