Privacy - Copyright Agency

Copyright Agency Limited (incorporating the former Viscopy Limited) (Copyright Agency, we, our and us) is committed to protecting the privacy of individuals.

This privacy policy outlines how Copyright Agency collects, uses and discloses your personal information in accordance with its obligations under the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act). It includes our dealings with your personal information via www.copyright.com.au, hub.copyright.com.au, rightsportal.copyright.com.au, resaleroyalty.org.au, visualarts.copyright.com.au/portal/licensing, visualarts.copyright.com.au/portal/images and www.readingaustralia.com.au (Websites).

All references to “personal information”, “sensitive information” in this Privacy Policy have the meanings given to these terms under the Privacy Act. Unless otherwise specified, all references to “personal information” in this Privacy Policy includes “sensitive information”.

The specific types of personal information and sensitive information we collect about you depend on which of our services are being provided to you. For some specific services or where additional personal information or sensitive information not detailed in this Privacy Policy is to be collected, we will provide you with a separate privacy collection statement (PCS) for that service or collection. The PCS is to be read together with this Privacy Policy in relation to that service.

By providing us with any of your sensitive information identified in this Privacy Policy or any PCS provided to you at the time of collection of your sensitive information or using our services, you acknowledge and consent to us collecting, using and disclosing that the sensitive information (i.e. as detailed in this Policy and any relevant PCS) in accordance with this Privacy Policy and/or PCS, as applicable.

You are not required to provide us with the personal information requested and can withdraw your consent to us processing your sensitive information at any time (by using the details in the “Contact Us” section below). However, if we have not received your personal information or you withdraw your consent to us processing your sensitive information for the relevant purposes, for example to provide you with a service you are applying for, we may not be able to offer you the service or continue to respond to your requests or queries.

WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

The types of personal information that Copyright Agency collects will depend on the nature of our engagement with you and includes the information set out below.

For our members, individual creators, licensees, publishers and art market professionals we collect your:

name; contact information; and
job title.

Also, for our members and individual creators we may collect your:

pseudonyms;
gender;
date of birth;
date of death (if applicable);
allocated payments and payment share arrangements with other rightsholders;
bank account details for electronic funds transfer payments;
member’s signature;
lists of works; and
details of other memberships and associations and of licence schemes in which members participate (including foreign organisations).

For visitors to our Websites we collect information relating to your interactions with our Websites that can reasonably ascertain your identity:

name;
email address; and
other information you provide to us or submit when visiting our Websites.

Depending on the type of engagement we have with you, for example, if you are our member or prospective member and we are processing your membership or royalty payments we also collect the following types of sensitive information about your:

membership of professional or trade associations
Australian residency status
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander status; and
sensitive information about Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander members and their communities (only with their consent).

Whenever we refer to sensitive information in this Policy we are referring to the sensitive information noted above.

ANONYMITY

We provide the option for individuals to not identify themselves, or of using a pseudonym when dealing with us, for example, if you seek general information about the services we offer. In some circumstances, if you choose not to provide the information requested we may not be able to provide you with certain services. We do not provide this option in circumstances where it is impracticable to do so or where Copyright Agency is legally required to deal with identified individuals only.

HOW WE COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Where practicable, Copyright Agency will collect your personal information directly from you.

We collect your personal information directly from you through email, by telephone, in writing and hard copy forms, through our member portal, our self-service portals, online applications and forms, Websites (from data input directly or through cookies and other web analytic tools e.g. Google Analytics) and via our Contact Us web page.

Copyright Agency may also collect your personal information indirectly from other parties relevant to our services including:

from other rightsholders in a work, including the publisher, we collect contact details and entitlement information to assist in member recruitment or payment to rightsholders. If Copyright Agency cannot collect that personal information from other rightsholders, its ability to efficiently recruit and pay rightsholders will be restricted;
from similar organisations to us in other countries we collect contact details, allocated payments and payment share arrangements, details of other memberships and associations via our agreements with these similar organisations in other countries to collect fees and royalties for the use of Australian works overseas;
indirectly through surveys administered by third parties for the purposes of determining licence fees for use of copyright material, determining to whom copyright payments should be made and to assess stakeholder engagement;
from the public domain from third party sources such as social networking services, industry directories, industry guides, and the Internet for the purposes of marketing, infringement investigation and enforcement of members’ rights;
from wills, letters of administration, probate documents, powers of attorney and similar documents for the purposes of establishing who is entitled to a copyright distribution or a resale royalty from Copyright Agency after the death of a rightsholder; and
from purchased mailing lists and business database lists which are used for sending Copyright Agency direct marketing material.

In addition, we collect your personal information from other parties where it is unreasonable or impracticable for us to collect that information from you or where the law requires or permits us to do so.

We collect your sensitive information directly from you through email, by telephone or in writing and hard copy forms, through our member portal, our self-service portals, online applications and forms, for the purposes set out in the “Why We Collect Personal Information” section below.

We collect your sensitive information from your representatives or your agents for the purposes set out in the “Why We Collect Personal Information” section below.

We may also collect your sensitive information from other parties where it is unreasonable or impracticable for us to collect that information from you or the law permits us to.

WHY WE COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Copyright Agency collects your personal information for a number of its business purposes to provide you our services including:

collecting and distributing:
- payments for use of copyright works; and
- resale royalties (for artist members);
identifying and locating rightsholders;
determining whether a Copyright Agency licence covers use of your work or whether someone requires a Copyright Agency licence for the use of your work;
in order to distribute payments to rightsholders and to claim payments under foreign schemes or for foreign use;
licensing copyright works to licensees;
provide dedicated services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artist members;
reporting on government requirements for policy and grant purposes in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists;
confirming payment share entitlements to Copyright Agency allocations;
assisting members to resolve disputes over entitlements to Copyright Agency allocations or resale royalties;
providing rights management services, including supporting legal actions which assist creators in rights management;
assessing and processing funding applications;
administering prizes and awards;
administering the RightsPortal service and other services; and
reply to enquiries

We collect sensitive information to provide dedicated services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artist members and to report on government requirements for policy and grant purposes in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists.

In addition, we collect your personal information to conduct marketing activities, research and related research permitted by law and develop better services (please see “Direct Marketing” section below).

Who We Disclose Your Personal Information To

other collecting societies and rights holder associations in order to distribute payments;
licensees and potential licensees;
other authors or publishers or their agents (that have an interest in your work);
third party research companies for the purposes of usage surveys and other research activity;
independent auditors engaged to audit Copyright Agency’s operational practices;
third party legal providers, including the Arts Law Centre of Australia, for the purpose of supporting its services to members;
external mediators or experts, for the purpose of resolving or assisting in resolution of disputes between members; and
external websites including social media accounts for the purposes of identifying recipients of awards and winners of competitions and represented artists for licensing requests.

Copyright Agency may also disclose your personal information to law enforcement bodies or as otherwise required or authorised by law.

However, Copyright Agency is obliged to notify the Commonwealth Government of any subpoena, warrant or other request made by a foreign court or other foreign authority for the disclosure of personal information and may not disclose such information without the prior written consent of the Commonwealth Government.

We disclose your sensitive information to:

Australian government agencies for reporting on government requirements for policy and grant purposes in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists;
those who use the member search function on our Websites in relation to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status of our members;
professional advisers, consultants, service providers and contractors, where their provision of services requires sensitive information; and
any other parties permitted or required by law and law enforcement bodies.

DIRECT MARKETING

Copyright Agency may use your personal information, from time to time, to conduct direct marketing and send you communications and material that we consider will be useful to you about our activities and services. If you do not wish to receive direct marketing communications, you can let us know using the details in the “Contact Us” section below.

OVERSEAS DISCLOSURES

Copyright Agency may disclose your personal information to overseas recipients. Some of the collecting societies and rights holder associations, authors or publishers or their agents, service providers, overseas recipients for the purposes of claiming payments for use of your works, and other parties specified in the “Who We Disclose Your Personal Information To” section above, are located overseas in countries as are listed on our Websites at link https://www.copyright.com.au/about-us/international-affiliates/ .

SECURITY OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Copyright Agency takes reasonable steps to protect your personal information from loss, unauthorised access, modification, disclosure, interference or other misuse.

ACCURACY OF AND ACCESS TO YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

You have a right to request access to your personal information and to request its correction if it is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading. Requests for access to or correction of personal information should be directed to our Privacy Officer whose details are provided in the “Contact Us” section below.

We will take reasonable and practicable steps to provide you access to your personal information within a reasonable period, once we have verified your identity, subject to any applicable exceptions, as required under the Privacy Act.

If you believe that we are holding incorrect, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading personal information about you, you may request us to correct it. Once we have verified your identity and subject to any exceptions, where we are satisfied that, having regard to the purpose for which your personal information is held, that your personal information is incorrect, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading, we will take steps that are reasonable in the circumstances to correct that personal information.

If we do not provide you access to your personal information, or refuse to correct your personal information, where reasonable we will provide you with a written notice including the reasons for the refusal.

There will be no charge for lodging such a request. However, a reasonable fee may be payable for providing access to your personal information.

COMPLAINTS REGARDING THE HANDLING OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

If you have a complaint about how we manage your personal information or a suspected breach by us of this Privacy Policy or the Privacy Act, please contact our Privacy Officer at the details provided in the “Contact Us” section below. Copyright Agency will investigate your complaint and respond to you within a reasonable time and attempt to resolve it. If we cannot resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner for consideration of your complaint, online at www.oaic.gov.au or by phone at 1300-363-992.

CONTACT US

If the event that you wish to access or correct personal information that we hold about you, wish to withdraw your consent to our processing of your sensitive information or if you have a query or complaint about our privacy practices, please contact our Privacy Officer directly

via email at privacy@copyright.com.au, or
in writing to the Privacy Officer at:

UPDATES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY

In the event that this Privacy Policy is amended or modified in the future, the revised version will be available on our Websites. If any changes are significant or substantial we will let you know on our Websites or by email if you have provided us with your email address.

Your continued use of our services and your visit to our Websites or provision of personal information to us after our notice that the Privacy Policy has been revised will be deemed to be your notification of (and, in the case of sensitive information, consent to) the revised Privacy Policy.

This privacy policy was last updated on 9 October 2025.