How to Stay Copyright Compliant

Identify the source of the material

When it comes to preparing and distributing teaching materials for students, what you can do depends on the source of the copyright material you want to copy or use. Once the source is identified, you can determine where to look to see if you need permission.

See what permissions already exist

Often permission will already exist for you to use materials for your teaching purposes. If you want to copy certain printed material, copy off-air broadcasts or transmissions, copy or publicly perform music and sound recordings - you may have permission to do so under a collective licence paid for by your tertiary education provider. Without a licence, you may still be able to copy, albeit to a more limited extent, under the educational provisions of the Copyright Act. If it is material sourced from an electronic database subscribed to by your institution, the terms of the subscription licence will apply to what you can do. If the material is sourced from the internet, you may be allowed to copy and supply copyright material under an open licence, such as Creative Commons. If there are no such permissions, you will need to get permission from the copyright owner to do any of the acts restricted by copyright. Your librarian or copyright officer will be able to assist.