Calculating the copyright term for a given work can be complicated because copyright legislation has changed over time.
For example, 70-year copyright terms came into effect in 2005 when the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA) amendments were made to the Copyright Act. Prior to 2005, terms were generally 50 years. But, the 2005 changes were not applied retrospectively or to government publications, therefore, to calculate the copyright status of older works, it is necessary to determine whether or not copyright had expired by 2005.
Introduction
You are welcome to copy and re-use material from the Library's collections provided you meet the requirements of the Australian Copyright Act 1968 and any special requirements that may apply to material that is rare, unique or culturally sensitive.
Information on copyright provided by the Library does not constitute legal advice. If in doubt, seek legal advice before copying a work.
The law
Copyright Act 1968 (Commonwealth) - The current version of the Copyright Act includes all changes made by amending legislation, such as the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000, the Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Act 2000, the relevant parts of the US Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act 2004, the Copyright Amendment Act 2006 and the Copyright Amendment (Disability Access and Other Measures) Act 2017.
Material not protected by copyright
You do not need to obtain any permissions where:
the item was never protected by copyright
copyright has been waived, such as by the author marking their work with a Creative Commons' CCO - 'No Rights Reserved' open licence
copyright has expired and the work is in the public domain.
Not all works in library collections have been protected by copyright during their existence, although other areas of law might apply. For example:
fill-in puzzle, crossword style books namely newsagency lines
commercial websites
personal web pages and weblogs (blogs)
Multi-volume books are not considered to be serials since they are planned to be published in a limited number of volumes, even if all volumes are not issued simultaneously. Series which are intended to comprise a definite number of individual parts and loose-leaf publications intended for updating with replacement pages are also excluded.
If Australian publishers are unsure whether their publication may be eligible for an ISSN, they should contact the Australian ISSN Agency.
What is an ISSN?
The ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) is a unique code for the identification of serial publications. It can be used wherever information on serials needs to be recorded or communicated. The ISSN is the serials equivalent of the ISBN (International Standard Book Number).