State and Territory governments sell survey plans, and authorise sales by commercial brokers, in reliance on the statutory licence for governments set out in the Copyright Act.
Copyright Agency is appointed by the Copyright Tribunal to manage the making of copies of works (including survey plans) under the government statutory licence (here), and is authorised by its members to license the communication of works (including in connection with government sales of survey plans).
In 2013, the Copyright Tribunal set a royalty of 12.5% of the sale price (here).
Copyright Agency has licence agreements regarding sales of survey plans with all State and Territory governments except the Tasmanian government (with which discussions are in train, and which has paid an amount for past activity). The licence fees are based on the number of plans sold in the licence period, and the royalty set by the Copyright Tribunal.
These agreements are separate to Copyright Agency’s agreements with the Commonwealth and State and Territory government departments to allow staff to copy and share content internally for government purposes (here).
The governments of NSW and Victoria pay us royalties for our current members. These governments are required, under the Copyright Act, to notify other rightsholders whose plans they have sold, and come to terms with those rightsholders. They pay us for non-members for a small number of ‘over the counter’ sales, as the plans are provided as reproductions rather than by communication. The distinction derives from the provisions of the government statutory licence, which applies differently to reproductions and communications.
The governments of Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory pay us licence fees for all rightsholders, which relieves them of the obligations to notify rightsholders and come to terms. NSW, Queensland and South Australia pay licence fees quarterly. Western Australia, ACT, Victoria and the Northern Territory pay annually.
Our membership includes more than 600 surveying firms.
You see some past news items about our surveying firm members here.
February 2025
Share Tweet