Copying under the education licence

The statutory education licence allows people working in education institutions to copy, adapt, share and store materials for students, including for online learning.

For materials containing text and images, there are four main requirements.

Requirement What this means
  1. The institution is covered by an agreement with Copyright Agency

 

 

 There are payment arrangements in place for:

  • nearly all Australian schools
  • TAFEs
  • members of Universities Australia
  • other education institutions, such as registered training organisations, listed here

If you don’t have a licence, education institutions can apply for a licence online on our RightsPortal.

Apply online
2. The material is copied and/or shared for educational purposes Education purposes includes:

  • made or retained for use, or is used, in connection with a particular course of instruction provided by the institution
  • made or retained for inclusion, or is included, in the collection of a library of the institution
3. The material is not used for any other purpose Education Institutions need to take steps to make sure that materials are not used for any other purposes, for example by:

  • using secure servers to ensure that materials are only available to the relevant students and parents assisting them
  • telling students and parents how they can and can’t use the materials (e.g. no sharing with others)
  • not retaining material any longer than needed for educational purposes
4. The education institution does not copy or share more than a reasonable portion of a publication that is available for purchase An education institution copying from a publication that is available for purchase can copy and share 10% of the pages, or a chapter, per student per course. An institution may be allowed to copy and/or share more if that is reasonable, and not detrimental to the content creators if done at scale. For example, if lots of people copy 80% of a book available for sale, instead of buying it, then that is likely to be detrimental to the content creators.

Poster for staff in individually licensed education institutions, such as registered training organisations, here.

Provided these requirements are met, people working in an education institution can copy, adapt, share and store any text and images that they have access to, including digital and print material. They can:

  • photocopy, print and scan
  • duplicate digital copies, and upload to a server
  • share material on a server to students, and email to students, provided the material is only available to the relevant students, and for the necessary time
  • adapt, and include in teacher-made resources

Broadcast content and music

  • education statutory licence for broadcast content (managed by Screenrights): here
  • music in education institutions (APRA AMCOS): here

Videos on copyright

Information from Australian Copyright Council

  • guides and factsheets here
  • advice service here
  • training here

This information is for guidance only. It is not legal advice.

November 2022

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