Today the effective management of information resources—technology, content and expertise—is a growing challenge for schools. Both staff and students know there are legal responsibilities associated with using information but we need to be clear what those responsibilities entail and be confident in how we exercise them.

In Australia copyright law is based on the Copyright Act, 1968. The Act sets out the materials that will be protected by law and the rights the owners of copyright material can exercise. Schools and libraries are allowed some exceptions from copyright infringement under statutory and voluntary licences to support study, research and education.

Over the last two years copyright law has been through reform to keep pace with:

• the changing ways people are using information; and
• advances in communication technology.

The areas of recent change in copyright law concern use of digital materials, and new moral rights. The charging structure and rate for the Hardcopy Licence has also been changed. Heard something mentioned that you don”t know about? Then read on…

Digital resources and materials
Copyright law now covers the reproduction of digital materials and electronic publishing and communication of those materials. This means for our school a new electronic use scheme, which covers reproducing and communicating of electronic materials.

Moral Rights
This is a new area of law that establishes the personal (non-economic) rights of creators and authors in relation to their materials. These rights concern attribution of creative work and honouring of its integrity. For schools this means working to develop a culture of respect for copyright materials.

Hardcopy Licence charges
On top of these changes to law, early in 2002, the Copyright Tribunal set a new charging structure for schools using hardcopy materials, under the statutory provision of the Copyright Act. Basically the new charging regime means:

• a higher rate per page for copying as the base as shifted from a fixed cap to the amount actually copied, (so the more schools copy, the higher the cost!); and
• differential charging based on type of material being copied and the durability of the copy, so, for example, an artwork costs more than a page of text.

Wading through legalese can be difficult, thankfully a useful new website has been published to keep schools up to date with changes in copyright law. It is called the Copyright Aware Website, and its address is http://www.copyrightaware.gov.au

The information is tailored to the differing needs of people in the school community. It’s a convenient way to get up to speed on our copyright obligations and to deal with the on the ground changes the school needs to make in an online world.