Welcome to ©news, a newsletter published by the Attorney General’s Department of NSW and devoted to copyright issues across the NSW Government.
In this issue, we take a closer look at the education environment and the way in which copyright issues are managed in our schools and TAFEs. In particular, we examine:
Special thanks goes to the team at the National Copyright Unit for their contribution to this edition.
What can we learn from schools and TAFEs?
Schools and TAFEs are collectively the largest user of copyright material in Australia. Last year they accounted for 61% of the Copyright Agency Limited’s (CAL’s) total licensing revenue of $102,812,000. CAL represents authors, publishers and journalists and the rights associated with written and related works.
The Copyright Advisory Group (CAG) is the national body responsible for copyright policy and administration for Australian schools and TAFEs on behalf of the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training & Youth Affairs (MCEETYA). CAG is supported and advised by the National Copyright Unit (NCU) based in New South Wales. CAG and the NCU were created to ensure coordination and cooperation between the states and territories on the national issue of copyright.
Educational Licence Schemes
The Copyright Act (1968) (Cth) (the Act) sets out two statutory licences that govern the copying and communication of copyright works by schools and TAFEs – (1) a print statutory licence and (2) a broadcast statutory licence.
In addition, educational institutions can enter into voluntary licences with the various collecting societies, who collect royalties on behalf of their copyright owner members.
Statutory Licences
1. Print Statutory Licence
Part VB of the Act allows photocopying and electronic copying and communication of print and artistic works by schools and TAFEs for classroom use including:
- photocopying text and/or images
- scanning a hard copy of text or an image into a digital format
- saving the digital version of the text or image to a storage disk
- emailing a digital version of text or an image to students
- placing a digital version of text or an image on to a school intranet
- digitally photographing a hard copy text or image.
In general, a school or TAFE can copy or communicate:
- up to 10% of a work
- one article from an journal (or more when on related topics)
- the whole of a work in digital form that has not been separately published or is not commercially available.
- the whole of an artistic work in digital form.
The Part VB statutory licence is administered by the Copyright Agency Limited (CAL).
2. Broadcast Statutory Licence
Part VA of the Act allows the electronic copying and communication of off-air radio and television broadcasts, including:
- providing access to the digital version of the program over a network (for example, a school’s intranet
- emailing a digital copy to students
- copying and communicating a free-to-air broadcast made available over the Internet (for example, a webcast or podcast)
The Part VA statutory licence is administered by Screenrights.
Voluntary Licences
3. Music Licences
Schools have also entered into national voluntary licences with the music collecting societies – Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society, Australasian Performing Right Association and the Australian Record Industry Association. These licences permit schools to use music at school for a range of activities. TAFEs do not currently have a national agreement with the music collecting societies.
National Educational Access Licence (NEALS)
The National Educational Access Licence (NEALS) is a licence between the education departments of the various states and territories, the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) and the Catholic and Independent Schools sector. It commenced in 2006 and all the states and territories have joined, as well as DEST and many of the Catholic and Independent schools educational bodies.
The benefits of NEALS
NEALS allows Australian schools to copy and communicate print and digital material for educational use free of charge from each others websites and publications. NEALs has two key benefits:
a) schools can use material made available under NEALS for educational purposes and don’t have to pay for it under the Part VB statutory licence.
b) schools can use material made available under NEALS for educational purposes and don’t have to comply with the copying limits imposed by Part VB of the Act.
The object of NEALS is to reduce the copyright fees paid by schools under Part VB of the Act. Copyright costs for schools are considerable. For example, in 2006 Australian schools paid CAL nearly $51.8 million in copyright royalties.
What does NEALS cover?
NEALS covers all print and digital material published by education departments, educational bodies, such as independent schools associations and Catholic dioceses, and schools. It covers works published on websites and in print publications, and includes works such as curriculum materials, administration documents and policy materials. NEALS does not give schools access to material they would not otherwise have. It only applies to publicly available material.
A department or educational body can only make material, which has been created by someone who is not an employee of the department or body, available under NEALS if it owns copyright in the material or has obtained permission from the copyright owner to make it available under NEALS.
The general default position under NEALS is that all material is covered by NEALS, unless it is expressly excluded. However educational bodies are being encouraged to label all material with the NEALS logo. This is to ensure that it is not counted in schools’ copyright surveys conducted by collecting societies from time to time. Only material of significant commercial or strategic value will generally be excluded from NEALS, and this material should be marked ‘Not Part of NEALS’. Details of this material will be added to the department or educational body’s Register of Excluded Material.
Non-educational bodies, such as government departments that want to make their material available free of charge to Australian schools can join NEALS by becoming a third party licensee. They can then affix the NEALS logo to any material they want to be included under NEALS.
Other ‘Smart Copying’ initiatives
The Copyright Advisory Group (CAG) is focusing on a number of ‘Smart Copying’ initiatives, which are aimed at controlling copyright costs in schools and TAFEs, without inhibiting the use of new technologies.
It is working to educate teachers and students at schools and TAFEs to understand and respect the rights of copyright owners. It is also encouraging copyright owners to make their material available to schools free of charge or at rates that recognise the value of education to the whole community.
(i) ‘Free for Education’
One of the major ways of reducing copyright costs is to promote a ‘free for education’ focus for information providers such as government departments at all levels, cultural institutions such as galleries and libraries and encouraging them to make their materials available to schools free of charge. This is based on the principle that this information has been developed using public funding and resources and should be fully available to the educational institutions free of charge.
CAG applauds the initiative of the NSW Attorney-General’s Department in making its content freely available, for non-commercial use, to the public. Other Departments such as the NSW Office of State Revenue and Department of Energy, Utilities and Sustainability have followed its lead. CAG would like to encourage government departments and instrumentalities at both state/territory and Commonwealth levels to adopt similar policies.
CAG is working with organisations such as the ‘Creative Commons’ (www.creativecommons.org/) to provide access to a broad range of copyright materials to schools free of charge. The Creative Commons recently released a ‘Best Creative Commons Websites for Education’ information sheet to assist schools to access this material.
(ii) Direct Licensing
Another way to reduce copyright costs is for schools, TAFEs and education departments to negotiate directly with copyright owners, rather than relying on the statutory licences. Direct licensing enable schools and TAFEs to explore alternative pricing models and develop business relationships with copyright owners.
CAG is forming partnerships between schools, industry and government to develop policies for the use of copyright material such as film and music in schools. For example, CAG is currently discussing the possibility of a ‘rainy day’ licence with film industry representatives, so that schools can show films to students for non-educational purposes at reasonable rates.
(iii) ‘Smart Copying’ Website
CAG is currently in the process of developing the ‘Smart Copying’ website. This site is dedicated to the issue of copyright in schools and TAFEs, including the use of new technologies, ‘Smart Copying’ practices and recent changes to the Act. The website also houses the ‘National Copyright Guidelines’, a comprehensive guide on the use of copyright materials in schools. An interim site is available at www.smartcopying.edu.au. The new site will be easy to search and navigate and is expected to be available in September 2007.
What’s ahead for schools and TAFEs?
One of the biggest challenges for CAG is to encourage schools and TAFEs to effectively manage copyright when using new technologies. Many schools and TAFEs, for example, now use some type of Learning or Content Management System. Popular systems include ‘Moodle’ and ‘Blackboard’. These systems allow teachers, schools and TAFEs to store and customise content, monitor student participation and assess student performance.
Learning and Content Management Systems have two implications for copyright in schools and TAFEs:
a) there is a risk of copyright infringement if a school or TAFE unknowingly exceeds permitted copying limits
b) while these systems enable schools and TAFEs to better manage their resources, they also facilitate copying and storage of copyright material. This means additional costs to the education system.
CAG is in the process of advising schools and TAFEs on how best to manage the use of copyright material in these systems so as to minimise copyright costs.
Want to know more about schools and TAFEs?
If you would like more information about copyright in schools and TAFEs, or you would like to know more about NEALS, please contact:
National Copyright Unit
Telephone: 9561 1204
Elizabeth Markwick, Copyright Manager
NSW Department of Education and Training
Telephone: (02) 9561 8121
Email: elizabeth.markwick@det.nsw.edu.au
Fiona Migan, Senior Policy Officer, Copyright
NSW Department of Education and Training
Telephone: (02) 9561 1025
Email: fiona.migan@det.nsw.edu.au
Written by the National Copyright Unit, Schools Resourcing Taskforce, MCEETYA
Copyright Contact
If you have questions about copyright or would like further information about the issues covered in this issue of ©news, please email copyright@agd.nsw.gov.au.
All images used in ©news are licensed under a Creative Commons licence, and are freely available for most uses. See www.creativecommons.org.
New South Wales Government
© State of New South Wales through the Attorney General’s Department of NSW, 2007.
You may copy, distribute, display, download and otherwise freely deal with this work for any purpose, provided that you attribute the Attorney General’s Department of NSW as the owner. However, you must obtain permission if you wish to (a) charge others for access to the work (other than at cost), (b) include the work in advertising or a product for sale, or (c) modify the work.
This document has been prepared by the Attorney General’s Department of NSW for general information purposes and while every care has been taken in relation to its accuracy, no warranty is given or implied. Further, recipients should obtain their own independent advice before making any decisions that rely on this information.
ISSN 1833-9913
Published in April 2007 by Legislation and Policy Division, Attorney General’s Department of NSW, GPO Box 6 Sydney NSW 2001 Phone: 9228 8028 Fax: 9228 8563
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