Q. What is copyright?

What is copyright

Copyright is the exclusive right given to authors, creators and copyright holders to reproduce and distribute a work.

Copyright provides an owner of a material with exclusive economic rights to do certain acts with that material. These rights include the right to copy and the right to communicate the material to the public. These rights include the right to copy, publish, communicate (e.g. broadcast, make available online) and publicly perform the copyright material.

Copyright also provides authors and performers with non-economic rights, known as moral rights. Moral rights recognised in Australia are the right of integrity, the right of attribution and the right against false attribution.

Copyright protects the original forms or way an idea or information is expressed, not the idea or information itself. The most common form of copyright are writing, visual images, music and moving images.

Copyright versus physical copies

Copyright is distinct from physical property.

A clear distinction exists between the copyright in a work and the ownership of the physical article in which the work exists. For example, an author may have created the content of a journal article, and you may own a physical copy of it, but the copyright might belong to the publisher. Similarly, the purchaser of an original painting does not have the right to make copies of it without the permission of the owner of copyright: the right of reproduction remains with the copyright owner (who is generally the artist).

Moral rights

Copyright includes moral rights.

Copyright also provides authors and performers with non-economic rights, known as moral rights. Moral rights recognised in Australia are the right of integrity, the right of attribution and the right against false attribution. In the example of the journal article given above, the author still retains authorship of the article, even if the publisher owns the copyright.

The right against false attribution is the moral right to not have one's name attached to a work they did not create - you cannot alter the expression or intent of an author's work and continue to attribute it to them as if it were their own work. Any adaption or alteration needs to be acknowledged as such.

Intellectual property

Copyright is not the only protection

Copyright covers and protects particular kinds of creative works, but other kinds of works are covered by different areas of Intellectual property law. For example, a name might not be protected by copyright, but might be protected by a trademark.

Intellectual property is the general name given to the laws covering patents, trade marks, designs, circuit layouts, plant breeder's rights and copyright. Each of these forms of intellectual property is protected by a specific Act of the Commonwealth Parliament. The framework for these Acts is largely based on Australia's obligations under international treaties. You can learn more about Intellectual property at IP Australia.

Adapted from:

Attorney-General's Department. (n.d.) Copyright basics. (CC BY)

Department of Communication and the Arts. (2016). Short guide to copyright. (CC BY)