Copyright

In December, 2006, several amendments to the Copyright Act were passed by Federal Parliament. For more information refer to the Changes to Copyright Act item in NAVA's News Desk.

Intellectual property (IP) refers to property rights in creations of the mind, such as inventions, industrial designs, literary and artistic works, symbols, and names and images. IP is generally divided into two main categories:
 the protection of industrial property (protected by patents, utility models, industrial designs, trademarks, service marks, trade names etc); and copyright, which includes literary and artistic works.

The main authority for Australian copyright law is the Copyright Act 1968 ("the Act"), which is a Commonwealth law and applies throughout every state in Australia. In 2000 an amendment went through designed to protect the utilisation or reproduction and communication of works on the Internet.

In Australia, when an artist creates an "original" form of expression, through using his/her skill and labour, in many cases he/she is automatically granted copyright in that form. Copyright is a bundle of rights, which include economic and moral rights, protected in law. These both prevent other people from making unauthorised use of a work and can also provide the artist with additional economic gain from their work.

Usually the copyright creator initially holds the exclusive right to reproduce all or part of an artwork. When someone else wants to utilise that work, he or she must have acquired a licence (permission) from the creator. The creator may choose to charge a fee for this licence or to not grant a licence.

Copyright is distinct from the physical artwork. This means that, in most cases, when an artist sells an artwork he/she still retains the copyright in that work unless he/she specifically assigns or sells it.

In Australia copyright protection is automatic and there is no need to register copyright.

Thanks to international treaties such as the Berne Convention, most foreign copyright owners are protected in Australia, and Australian copyright owners are protected in most other countries. If you want to know which countries do not have copyright laws, contact the Australian Copyright Council.

The type of artwork may sometimes decide the extent of the owner’s copyright. Normally, in Australia, it lasts for the life of the creator plus 70 years. However, there are some exceptions and at present these include photography.

Copyright protects a range of artistic works including the plans and sketches of 3D work or the prototype or original of a sculptural or craft piece. However, if the concept is extended into a manufactured good, in some cases it will need to be registered under the Australian Designs Act to get protection. Further information is available on the Australian Copyright Council website under Designs for Functional Articles and from Intellectual Property Australia.

Indigenous Rights


Many Australians recognise that some aspects of Australian law do not adequately acknowledge the different cultural values of Australia’s Indigenous people. One area of inadequacy is felt to be in the area of copyright law. Therefore, whilst there are not currently any laws offering different forms of copyright protection for Indigenous peoples, there are recommended ethical ways of dealing with Indigenous copyright and cultural issues. These ethical guidelines are more fully explored in the NAVA publication Valuing Art, Respecting Culture.

NAVA Resources:

Visual Artists As Copyright Owners And Users.
Published by NAVA, 12 pages, 2004 edition.
Buy the publication.

Copyright, Moral Rights, Resale Royalty, Equal Opportunity, Restrictions on Freedom of Expression. Chapter 6 of the NAVA Code of Practice, 2nd edition, 2004.
ISBN 0 9751929 0 6
Read the Chapter.
Buy the full publication.

Valuing Art, Respecting Culture: Protocols For Working With The Australian Indigenous Visual Arts And Craft Sector. This document sets out protocol to both guide non-Indigenous people in their relationships with Indigenous artists and communities, and assist Indigenous artists to define their rights. Published by NAVA, written and researched by Doreen Mellor with a legal section by Terri Janke. Published 2001, 110 pages.
ISBN 0 9585 474 0 8.
This publication is no longer available in hard copy.

Read Valuing Art, Respecting Culture (complete document).
Read Valuing Art, Respecting Culture (executive summaries).