The Copyright Act enables Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments (the Crown) to make an unlimited number of uses of copyright material for the services of government.
This is known as the Statutory Government Licence.
Under this Licence, Commonwealth, State and Territory government departments and agencies are eligible to copy and digitally communicate materials internally if the activity is for the services of the government. By providing this Licence for government, the Copyright Act aims to balance the copying needs of government with the rights of creators.
Copyright Agency has been declared by the Copyright Tribunal of Australia as the collecting society for government copies and authorised by its members for government communications. Government departments and agencies are not required to notify copyright owners of certain uses when they have entered into an agreement for fair compensation to the content creators with Copyright Agency.
Copyright Agency has agreements with the Commonwealth and each State and Territory Government, which allow their staff to copy and communicate content internally for government purposes. Many government departments and agencies are covered under these agreements. To check which departments and agencies are covered please contact us at government@copyright.com.au.
Get the most out of your licence
Browse our resources to get the most out of your access to the Statutory Government Licence through the Knowledge Hub.
Are you a local government agency?
Go to our Copyright Licences for Local Government page to find out more.
Share Tweet