24 July 2012

An article published in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age on 23 July refers to claims by the National Copyright Unit regarding payments for schools' use of content from the internet.

The issue is likely to be considered by the Australian Law Reform Commission in its inquiry into copyright. See also the postings about the inquiry on our blog here.

Our letter to the editor regarding the article is here (published version here).

Some additional points about this issue:

• the payment made on behalf of school students covers all uses of print and digital text and images that would otherwise require a copyright clearance
• the rate currently paid on behalf of school students resulted from a commercial negotiation between Copyright Agency and Copyright Advisory Group (which is supported by the National Copyright Unit)
• the payment covers the use of content that would otherwise require a copyright clearance
• it does not cover uses that do not require a copyright clearance, such as content covered by a Creative Commons licence
• most of the content teachers use under the copying scheme is specifically produced for education