Copyright law in Australia can be a bit tricky, mostly due to the fact that it was created in 1968.
A lot has changed since it was first written, luckily it was amended in 2017 to make room for things like social media.
With the Internet continuously evolving businesses and individuals are required to stay on the ball to ensure that they don’t get left behind.
Due to us being able to access content so quickly, our culture has become the most actively participatory audience ever, creating and repurposing material all the time.
Needless to say, this makes navigating what we can and can’t do difficult.
Stockists have been asking us about copyright and how it works, so we’ve put together a little list of copyright fast facts that you can easily refer to when you’re stuck.
- Copyright protection in Australia is free and applies automatically when material is created.
- There is no registration system for copyright in Australia.
- Copyright does not protect ideas, facts, information, styles, techniques, titles, names or slogans. For example, you see a movie, you really like its main idea, so you go ahead and create a NEW script (different to the original film’s script) and you begin filming – this is okay.
- Australian copyright law applies to actions taken in Australia even if the material was produced overseas.
- Repurposing content is different to infringing copyright as you are using material and turning it into something else. For example, you use a picture you’ve found on the Internet to create a post for your blog, adding text and other elements to its design – this is generally okay.
- Should you wish to use someone’s exact work, ensure you get a written statement that acknowledges that they do give you their permission.
- You are allowed to copy a small amount of work without seeking permission if you are criticising, commenting or creating a parody.
Here is a link to useful online article where you can find some further information regarding the basic laws of copyright in Australia. http://newsmediaworks.com.au/what-you-need-to-know-about-copyright-basics/
The idea of copyright protection is that it encourages people to create new content, rather than recycling material that’s already done its rounds.
If you see us @Vitahealth posting anything, please feel free to ‘re-post’, you can do this by downloading an app, re-posting means that you can share the content, while acknowledging the original
creator, in some cases what we share has been created by @Environ for example.
If you have any more questions regarding copyright, please feel free to email them through to renatag@skintec.net ,I’ll happily to pass on further info
