Privacy

Copyright Agency Limited (incorporating the former Viscopy Limited) (Copyright Agency) is strongly committed to protecting the privacy of individuals.

This privacy policy outlines how Copyright Agency protects and handles your personal information in accordance with its obligations under the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act).

ABOUT THIS POLICY

This privacy policy sets out:

  • the kinds of personal information that Copyright Agency collects and holds;
  • how Copyright Agency collects, uses, discloses and stores your personal information;
  • the purposes for which Copyright Agency collects your personal information;
  • how you may access personal information about you that is held by Copyright Agency and seek correction of it; and
  • how you may complain about a breach of the APPs and how Copyright Agency will deal with such a complaint.

It includes our dealings in your personal information via www.copyright.com.au and www.readingaustralia.com.au (Websites).

Personal information

Personal information is defined in s 6(1) of the Privacy Act as:

information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable:

  • whether the information or opinion is true or not; and
  • whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.

Sensitive information

Sensitive information is a subset of personal information. The Privacy Act imposes special obligations where sensitive information is collected, used and disclosed. Copyright Agency may collect some forms of sensitive information, including details about membership of professional or trade associations and Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander status. Copyright Agency will not collect sensitive information about you unless you consent (we take your provision of the information to be consent to its collection), and the information is reasonably necessary for one or more of our functions or activities. If Copyright Agency holds any sensitive information about you, that information will only be used and disclosed by Copyright Agency for the purpose that it was provided by you.

What personal information does Copyright Agency collect?

The types of personal information that Copyright Agency collects includes:

  • name;
  • pseudonyms;
  • contact information;
  • job title;
  • 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;
  • lists of works;
  • details of other memberships and associations and of licence schemes in which members participate (including foreign organisations);
  • 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).

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 DOES COPYRIGHT AGENCY COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

Who do we collect information from?

Copyright Agency collects personal information relating to individual creators, publishers, licensees and art market professionals as part of the normal course of its business.

Where possible, Copyright Agency collects personal information directly from you.

Copyright Agency may also collect your personal information from third parties in accordance with the requirements of the APPs, including:

  • from other rightsholders in a work, including the publisher. This personal information is restricted to information which will assist in member recruitment or payment to rightsholders, such as contact and entitlement information. 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 in other countries – Copyright Agency has agreements with similar organisations in other countries that enable the use of foreign text and images in Australia, and the collection of fees and royalties for the use of Australian works overseas and may collect information in this process;
  • 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; and
  • via purchased mailing lists and business database lists which are used for sending Copyright Agency marketing material, where you have consented to receiving such communications or you would reasonably expect us to use or disclose the information for that purpose.

Information collected through our Websites and online services

A variety of information is collected by using our Websites and online services. Some of this may be personal information, which is summarised in the table below:

Information source Treatment
Emails and electronic forms Our servers may record your email address if you send us a message online. Your e-mail address will only be used for the purpose for which you have provided it and it will not be added to a mailing list or used for any other purpose without your consent.
Google Analytics Copyright Agency uses Google Analytics (which may also use clickstream data) to collect data about users’ usage and behaviour on the Websites. This information is used to improve the Websites and is not used by Copyright Agency to personally identify users of the site. All tracked data is anonymously collected in accordance with Google Analytics’ privacy policy.

By using our Websites, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above. Please refer to Google’s privacy policy for further information. A copy of that privacy policy is available at http://www.google.com.au/policies/privacy/

Cookies Copyright Agency uses session ‘cookies’ to help analyse how users use the Websites.

The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by our service providers on servers hosted in the United States and Australia.

By using our website, you consent to the processing of data about you in the manner and for the purposes set out above.

Survey Monkey We sometimes use Survey Monkey (a third party software supplier) for online surveys for research purposes.

Survey Monkey use third party cookies. The information collected by these cookies cannot identify you and is only used to ensure our surveys run smoothly. The information collected in these surveys is transmitted and stored securely in the United States and is subject to the privacy laws of that country and Survey Monkey’s privacy policy. A copy of that privacy policy is available at https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/legal/privacy/.

By using Survey Monkey, you understand that this information may be hosted overseas and subject to laws outside Australia and consent to the latter.

You may decline to provide this information by not responding to these surveys. You may also use a pseudonym or other means to keep your identity private when using Survey Monkey. For example, you can choose to use a printable version of the survey which you could post or email to Copyright Agency.

Copyright Agency will only use the information collected from the surveys in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Our Websites do not provide facilities for the secure transmission of information across the internet.

Users should be aware that there are inherent risks transmitting information across the internet.

WHY DOES COPYRIGHT AGENCY COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

Copyright Agency collects and holds your personal information for a number of its business purposes which are detailed generally on the Websites. These purposes include:

  • collecting and distributing:
    • payments for use of copyright works; and
    • resale royalties (for artist members);
  • identifying and locating rightsholders;
  • 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
  • for other secondary purposes you might reasonably expect us to use it for related to the above primary purposes.

HOW DOES COPYRIGHT AGENCY USE AND DISCLOSE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

Copyright Agency uses and discloses your personal information for the primary business purposes for which it is collected (set out above) and related management purposes.
It also uses and discloses your personal information for any other purposes to which you have consented.

Subject to the requirements of the APPs, Copyright Agency may also use and disclose your personal information for any other related purpose that you would reasonably expect the information to be used or disclosed.

Copyright Agency may use and disclose your personal information by a variety of methods including by social media.

You may request that Copyright Agency does not disclose certain personal information without your consent.

Copyright Agency may also use and disclose your personal information in the following specific circumstances:

  • Copyright Agency may use and disclose your Copyright Agency membership and Copyright Agency licence scheme participation to its licensees and toother collecting societies and rightsholder associations;
  • Copyright Agency may use and disclose your Copyright Agency membership, including using and disclosing your name; year of birth and pseudonym, and your Copyright Agency licence scheme participation on the Websites to enable licensees and potential licensees to determine whether their Copyright Agency licence covers use of your work or whether they require a Copyright Agency licence for the use of your work;
  • Copyright Agency may disclose the fact that you have received a Copyright Agency payment to other authors or publishers or their agents (that have an interest in your work) – for example, we may inform authors of payments made to their publishers and publishers of payments made to authors;
  • Copyright Agency may exchange personal information with other collecting societies and rights holder associations in order to distribute payments to rightsholders and to claim payments under foreign schemes or for foreign use;
  • Copyright Agency may disclose your personal information to third party research companies for the purposes of its usage surveys and other research activity;
  • Copyright Agency may disclose your personal information to independent auditors engaged to audit Copyright Agency’s operational practices;
  • Copyright Agency may disclose personal information to third party legal providers, including the Arts Law Centre of Australia, for the purpose of supporting its services to members;
  • Copyright Agency may disclose your personal information on the Websites and otherwise to the public for the purposes of identifying recipients of awards and winners of competitions and represented artists for licensing requests;
  • Copyright Agency may, in accordance with our dispute resolution process, disclose information relevant to your payments including the amount of payments to other persons with an apparent interest in your works or to their agents, or to external mediators or experts, for the purpose of resolving or assisting in resolution of disputes between members;
  • Copyright Agency may be required to disclose your personal information to law enforcement bodies, or as otherwise authorised in section 6.2 of the APPs. 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; and
  • Copyright Agency may disclose personal information to a third party if the disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the life, health or safety of you or another person and it is unreasonable or impracticable to obtain your consent.

Copyright Agency will not otherwise use or disclose your personal information without your consent unless otherwise required or authorised by law.

Marketing material

Copyright Agency may use your personal information, from time to time, to send to you marketing material that we consider will be useful to you, or other material about our activities. Copyright Agency will only do this if we collected the information from you and you would reasonably expect us to use or disclose the information for that purpose, or if you have consented to receiving such communications. If you do not wish to receive this information, you can let us know and we will stop sending it to you within a reasonable period of time.

Does Copyright Agency send your personal information overseas?

Copyright Agency may disclose your personal information to overseas recipients. For example, we may disclose certain personal information to overseas collecting societies and we may use a server hosted overseas for storage and back up of data including your personal information.

If we disclose your personal information to an overseas recipient, we will take reasonable steps before disclosure to ensure that the overseas recipient will not breach the APPs. We may from to time to time disclose your personal information to overseas recipients for the purposes of claiming payments for use of your works in the countries where we have a fee exchange agreement with a foreign collecting society. Those countries are listed on our website here.

We may also store some classes of personal information as backup data on servers located in the following countries: United States, United Kingdom, France, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, China, India.

HOW DOES COPYRIGHT AGENCY STORE MY PERSONAL INFORMATION AND IS IT SECURED?

Copyright Agency takes reasonable steps to protect your personal information from loss, unauthorised access, modification, disclosure, interference or other misuse. These steps include electronic access restrictions for electronic files that contain personal information, securing paper files containing personal information in locked cabinets and physical access restrictions.

Once collected, Copyright Agency holds personal information in a number of different formats, including on servers (located both onsite and offsite, including in the cloud), databases, filing systems and in offsite backup storage.

Copyright Agency only retains personal information for as long as it is required for its business purposes or for as long as required by law. Any information that we no longer require is destroyed securely. An exception to this may be retention of the information for data analysis. However, if this occurs, the information will be retained in a form that does not allow you to be identified from that information.

Copyright Agency undertakes not to disclose your personal information in any manner that would be considered direct marketing.

CAN I ACCESS AND CORRECT MY PERSONAL INFORMATION HELD BY COPYRIGHT AGENCY?

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 below.

We will take reasonable and practicable steps to provide you access and/or make a correction to your personal information within a reasonable period, unless we consider there is a sound reason under the Privacy Act or other relevant law to withhold the information, or not make the changes.

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 AND CONCERNS 

If you have a complaint relating to a breach of the APPs by Copyright Agency, you should contact our Privacy Officer at the details provided below. Copyright Agency will investigate your complaint and respond to you within a reasonable time and in accordance with its legal obligations. Copyright Agency will take any necessary corrective actions promptly.

HOW TO CONTACT US

If you have any questions or concerns about how Copyright Agency treats your personal information please contact our Privacy Officer directly via email at privacy@copyright.com.au, or write to the Privacy Officer at:

Copyright Agency, Level 12, 66 Goulburn Street, SYDNEY NSW 2000

For more information about your right to privacy please visit the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s website at www.oaic.gov.au.

Share Tweet