Copyright: changes to the Statutory Education Licence

The education copying scheme (Statutory Education Licence) set out in the Copyright Act 1968 was amended in December 2017. Parts VA & Part VB have been reduced from 56 to 13 pages in order to reduce red tape and make the licence more flexible.

All educational institutions should have copyright compliance measures in place to ensure that they do not infringe the rights of third party copyright owners, for example by copying or communicating excerpts from books, periodicals, images or websites.

The Statutory Education Licence offers an easy way for registered training organisations (RTOs) to ensure that they are copyright compliant without having to obtain complex individual permissions or purchase expensive materials. The current copying and communication limits for works still apply while the terms of a new agreement are negotiated. However, licensing bodies Copyright Agency (for text and images) and Screenrights (for television and radio broadcasts) can now consider requests for changes to the existing limitations.

More information

Statutory Education Licence for the use of text and images (e.g. books, websites, periodicals, etc.):

• Copyright Agency
  Liesl Fitzpatrick, Senior Manager, Education Licensing
  (02) 9394 7644
  lfitzpatrick@copyright.com.au

Statutory Education Licence for the use of television and radio broadcasts:

• Screenrights
  James Dickinson, Head of Licensing
  (02) 9904 0133
  licensing@screenrights.org