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Copyright guide for staff

The University of Sydney is committed to compliance with the Copyright Act 1968 and to upholding the rights of both creators and users of copyright materials. As a member of staff of the University you carry out a number of different roles: what you can copy and the use you can make of these copies depends on the role you are performing at the time.

This brief guide gives you an overview of the requirements of the Copyright Act in your roles as a creator and user of teaching resources and as an individual researcher.

Copying for teaching purposes

The Copyright Act allows educational institutions the right to copy limited amounts of some types of copyright works for educational purposes without obtaining the copyright owner’s permission. This system of statutory licences sets out a number of conditions including the payment of royalties to copyright owners via collecting agencies such as the Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) and Screenrights.

Copying TV, radio broadcasts & podcasts

Under Part VA of the Copyright Act and our agreement with Screenrights you can copy any radio and TV broadcast received in Australia and use it for educational purposes. You can copy all or part of a program from free-to air, cable or satellite broadcasts. Copies can be streamed copies to students provided the Part VA Warning Notice is displayed and labeling requirements are followed. For more details visit the TV & radio broadcasts section of the website.

Podcasts of TV or radio programs broadcast by free to air stations in Australia and made available by the broadcaster can also be copied for educational purposes. Some overseas podcasts can also be used. See the Podcasts section for more information.

Note that Part VA does not permit you to copy commercially produced films and DVDs for educational purposes without the permission of the copyright owners.

Copying print and digital works under Part VB

Under Part VB of the Copyright Act and the CAL agreement, the University can copy and make available online journal articles and limited amounts from published books for educational purposes. To ensure that it complies with the strict limits set down in the Act, the University decided that the Library’s Reserve service will be the official repository for all online, text-based, third-party copyright materials required for student course work.

The Library will copy and communicate the following amounts for your course:

  • one chapter or 10% of the pages from a book, as long as this doesn’t include a complete chapter
  • one article from a periodical issue – more if they are on the same narrow topic
  • only one chapter from a book can be online at any time – this applies across the entire University.

Library staff will make sure that all material placed on Reserve complies with copyright and that the Part VB Warning Notice is displayed. Get in touch with your Faculty Liaison Librarian for more information.


Under Part VB you can also produce course readers or sets of student notes in print or on CD-Rom format. The amounts you can include in these notes are basically the same as those the Library can copy for Reserve. There are marking requirements for notes produced in CD-Rom format – see Student notes for more information.

Images and diagrams in lecture notes can be located on course websites but access must be restricted to University of Sydney students and a Part VB Warning Notice must be displayed.

Access to material copied under Part VB must be limited to University of Sydney staff and students. Copies must not be distributed to external users, posted on University websites which can be accessed by the public or on external websites such as blogs, YouTube or MySpace.

See Course readings & Reserve for information on copying and communicating texts, journal articles and electronic works.

See Using images & diagrams for details on using images, diagrams and artistic works in teaching resources.

Copying CDs & sound recordings

The University has an additional agreement, the Music Licence, with the four main music societies in Australia, AMCOS, APRA, ARIA and PPCA which allows the copying of sound recordings and performance of music for educational purposes.

Under this Licence you can copy sound recordings from the societies’ repertoires and distribute these to students for educational purposes. Sound recordings can also be streamed to students via a secure network but downloading is not permitted. Students can also synchronise music to a film or video they make for an assignment or as part of their course requirements. There are labeling and listing requirements which must be observed.

The Music Licence does not cover the copying of sheet or notated music – this comes under Part VB of the Copyright Act and the limits on copying set down in this section must be observed.

Copying for your research

Copying for your personal research falls under the fair dealing exceptions in the Copyright Act. These allow you to copy limited amounts of copyright material for a variety of reasons including research or study and criticism or review.

As a researcher, the research or study exemption will probably be the exemption you rely on for most of your copying. It allows you to copy a reasonable portion of a literary or dramatic work or a piece of notated music. A reasonable portion of work is defined as:

  • one chapter or 10% of the pages from a book
  • one article from a periodical issue; more if needed for the same research or course.

The Copyright Act does not specify the amount you can copy from works such as diagrams, artworks, films, TV programs and CDs. You need to consider the five factors set out below before deciding if the copying constitutes fair dealing. These factors also apply if you need to copy more than a reasonable portion from a book, musical score or notated music:

  • the purpose and character of the copying
  • the nature of the material being copied
  • the possibility of obtaining the material commercially
  • the effect of the copying upon the potential market for the material
  • the amount copied in relation to the whole of the source material.

See the Research or study section of the website for additional information.

Copying from the internet

Remember the internet is not a copyright free zone – material on the internet is protected by copyright. Be particularly careful about downloading movies, TV programs and music as many of these web sites contain illegal material which infringes copyright.

University policy prohibits the use of University ICT resources to download and store copyright material which is not properly licensed. The University has the right to monitor and track the use of its resources and penalties can be imposed for improper use of University ICT resources.

Use legitimate websites where you are sure that the copyright owner has given permission for the material to be included. You should also be cautious about directing students to websites which contain infringing material as this could be interpreted as authorising or promoting copyright infringement.

University IP policy

As a member of staff you need to be aware of the University of Sydney (Intellectual Property) Rule 2002 (pdf). Under this policy the University claims ownership of copyright in teaching materials but not in research publications you create during the course of your employment.

Moral rights

Moral rights clauses in the Copyright Act give authors the right to be identified as the creators of their work and the right to object if their work is subjected to derogatory treatment which may prejudice their honour or reputation. There is now a legal obligation to acknowledge any sources you use in your research publications as well as any teaching resources you prepare.

Need more information?

Contact: Raj Saxena, Coordinator of Copyright Services
Phone: 935 12888
Email: