Copyright: Infringement & Exemptions

Copyright Infringement

Copyright Infringement or "Piracy" occurs when you use Copyright material in ways which "infringe" on the owner's protected rights regarding the reproduction and distribution of their work. It is significant that this is not "theft" (given the Copyright owner still possess the material to profit from, with only their exclusive rights to the Intellectual property being infringed.) Neither does your infringement have to result in economic profit.

Methods of infringement:

• Accessing a copy of a work unlawfully. For example, downloading a copy of a work from a torrenting site, or streaming it via intermediaries who are not authorised to distribute the material is infringement. Note, these sites may be used to legitimately distribute copyright material, however, this is difficult to verify (see our page on Web and Social Media for usage guidelines).

Whilst using a "reasonable portion" of a work in a University assignment should be covered under Fair Dealing: Research and Study, if the work was downloaded from an infringing site, then the assignment would also be infringing Copyright.

• Adapt or create a Derivative work. Adapting a Copyright work (say making a short film from a play script), or creating a Derivative work like a music re-mix is an exclusive right of the Copyright owner. Making an unauthorised Adaptation or Derivative is Copyright Infringement.

US "Fair Use" law allows for "fair" and "transformative" uses of work, thus re-mixes are allowable in certain circumstances. Australian law does not have these broad provisions.

• Communicate or Publish copies of a Work. Whether in physical or electronic format (see our page on exemptions.)
• False attribution. It is an Infringement of the Moral rights holder's right of attribution to claim creation of a Work, or falsely attribute creatorship to another Work.
• Integrity of the Work. You may Infringe on the Creator's Moral rights by damaging the Integrity of their Work, and / or their reputation.
• Making an unauthorised copy of a work. Other than a limited set of exemptions, such as making a back-up copy for personal use, or recording a broadcast for your own later use, making an unauthorised copy is infringing on the Copyright owner's rights. This includes sharing and distributing material online.
• Perform or present a work in public. Performance rights are required to show a work publicly. Note, there may be separate rights involved, as with music performance. For a music performance the performer or venue must pay for performance rights, but the music publication rights must also be purchased (generally by having purchased authorised copies of the print music for each performer).

These methods of Infringement mean that even if you are not profiting from infringement, you may be infringing the copyright owner's rights. This applies even if you are making what might otherwise be a permissible use of a work (such as using part of a film for an assignment).

There are further forms of Infringement, including:

• DRM and / or TPM circumvention. Digital Rights Management (DRM) or Technological Protection Measures (TPM) may never be circumvented (i.e. breaking the region-lock of a DVD is against the law.)