In Australia, copyright law is contained in the Commonwealth Copyright Act 1968(Copyright Act).
A simple definition of copyright is that it is a bunch of rights in certain creative works such as text, artistic works, music, computer programs, sound recordings and films. The rights are granted exclusively to the copyright owner to reproduce the material, and for some material, the right to perform or show the work to the public. Copyright owners can prevent others from reproducing or communicating their work without their permission or may sell these rights to someone else.
Copyright does not protect ideas, concepts, styles or techniques. For example, copyright will not protect an idea for a film or book, but it will protect a script for the film or even a storyboard for the film.
Copyright for schools:
What is a CC licence?
The CC licences provide a simple standardised way for individual creators, companies and institutions to share their work with others on flexible terms without infringing copyright. The licences allow users to reuse, remix and share the content legally.
Offering your work under a Creative Commons licence does not mean giving up your copyright. It means permitting users to make use of your material in various ways, but only on certain conditions.
The CC licences set out the uses that may lawfully be made of the copyright material and specifies the conditions which must be complied with when it is used.
There are six standardised CC licences.
Each of the CC licences grants certain baseline permissions to users in advance, authorising them to use the material, provided they comply with core conditions, as well as other general terms in the licence.
If your work is going to have a wider audience than the classroom ensure the images and music that you use is not covered by copyright. Searching for Creative Commons will ensure that you are not breaching copyright law.
Within the school setting students and staff are allowed to use text and images. The copyright act has a clause specifically for 'research and study' as it comes under the fair use guidelines.
However if a student makes an artistic work based on an existing item (text or image) and this work is shown publicly, then they need to get permission from the copyright owner.
Music copyright is controlled by AMCOS/APRA/ARIA Schools' Music recording licences. Copying of sheet music falls under the general copyright rule of 10% except in various circumstances detailed in the Copyright Council Website.
The general rule is that music can be performed or played if it required for the purpose of research or study, or it is part of a school event.
If unsure always check the specific details with the Copyright Council.
