Copyright for teachers

All staff are responsible for complying with copyright law when using third party copyright material in the course of their teaching. There are a number of provisions in the Copyright Act that allows material to be used for educational purposes.

The most important of these is outlined in section 113P of the Copyright Act and is also referred to as the educational statutory licences. The University is also party to a music Licence with the Australian Music Industry which confers limited rights.

If your proposed use is not covered by a provision in the Copyright Act or the music licence it may still be possible by seeking permission from the copyright owner or by using a licensed resource. 

In summary, you can use material for the educational purposes of the University if:

• you own the copyright;
• Flinders University owns the copyright;
• copyright in the work has expired;
• you are using an insubstantial portion;
• you or the University have permission from the copyright owner for your intended use;
• you or the University have an express licence to use the work, e.g. a contract, creative commons licence, website conditions;
• you are reproducing material in an accessible format to assist a student with a disability;
• your use is allowed under the statutory licences;
• your use is allowed under the music licence;
• your proposed use is a special case as defined under section 200AB.