Quality literature underpins evidence-based decision-making and is a valuable resource for clients as it provides keys to understanding and self-awareness.

You may want to build a collection of materials from published sources for use in your own business, for sharing among your practice team or for handing out to clients, if you think it will be beneficial to them.

Under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), the reproduction and communication of a copyright work requires a licence or permission from the rightsholder unless an exception applies, otherwise a person or an organisation may find themselves infringing copyright (Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), s36) There are many reasons why people and organisations fail to obtain permission or a licence – ranging from ignorance to flagrancy. What they may not realise is that ignorance is not a defence to copyright infringement, and flagrancy is grounds for damages in copyright infringement cases.

Copyright needn’t be viewed as a ‘problem’. Let’s start by clearing up a few misconceptions:

I paid for a copy, or for access, to papers, so I can do what we like with them.

When you purchase a copy of a paper, or access to papers via a subscription, or obtain a copy from a library, there will be a set of terms and conditions attached as to how they can be used. These terms will generally prohibit saving a copy of the paper for business use or sharing it with anyone else without obtaining the licence of the rightsholder.

If it’s on the internet, anyone can use it.

Copyright still exists on the internet. Most websites contain a copyright notice or information about terms of use, but even if they don’t, copyright protection still applies.

I can use other people’s content provided I credit them.

Crediting or attributing the author or creator of the work relates to moral rights, so yes, you should always provide the credit. The rights to reproduce or communicate the work (known as economic rights) are separate rights owned by the copyright holder – for these, you need permission.

And finally, the biggest misconception.

Copyright is too restrictive and it is too hard to get permission.

Copyright is valuable intellectual property – it is protected and respected by the law to foster innovation. Publishers and rightsholders set the terms on which people and organisations can reproduce and communicate their works and recognise that it needs to be easy and fair to meet the requirement to get a licence for reproduction and communication of their works. There are a range of licensing options available to users – ranging from obtaining separate permissions from individual publishers for each reproduction and communication, to obtaining a more cost-effective and efficient ‘collective licence’.

What is collective licensing?

Collective licensing is designed to enable organisations to obtain a consistent set of reproduction, communication and digital storage rights for multiple works under a single licence. Rights are granted to a Collective Management Organisation (CMO), (Also referred to as Reproduction Rights Organisation (RRO)) which is:

a national organisation licensed to handle certain types of permissions on behalf of publishers or other rights owners. CMOs can provide you with permission in the form of a license to make copies of material in several formats such as printing, photocopying, scanning, digital copying, and electronic storage (Elsevier (2024). ‘Can I obtain permission from a Reproduction Rights Organization (RRO)?)

The Australian (Federal) Government also provides guidance for people or businesses wanting to use copyright material:

• Attorney General’s Department

• Australian Business Licence and Information Service (ABLIS).

• Copyright Agency is the Australian CMO for text and image works and has 50 years’ experience with collective licensing.

Copyright Agency is the Australian CMO for text and image works and has 50 years’ experience with collective licensing. Its annual licence covers off internal business use and storage of published content, together with certain external uses, such as providing a handout with the content to a client or displaying the content in a presentation.

If you use copyright material in your job, you can obtain a cost-effective collective licence covering nearly all literature from around the world that will make your use of these works copyright compliant.

Start the conversation on becoming copyright compliant by downloading the guide to Copyright 101 for Sole Traders from our website, or contacting our licensing team at licence.enquiries@copyright.com.au.

Copyright Agency can also provide licences for organisations of any size.

More information can be found on the video below.