Copyright and EMu: Some thoughts on using the rights module Emily Hudson 5 th Australasian EMu User Group Meeting National Museum of Australia, 6-7 September 2006

Issue 1: Why? To create a centralised database of copyright information (‘Database Goal’): –Records assessment of copyright status, use of copyright works, terms of licences, and so forth. To help staff complete their duties (‘Facilitation Goal’): –Lets staff know what activities are permissible, and when a copyright clearance is required. –Records institutional uses of copyright material: may help to encourage compliance with law.

Questions for today Who will have the ability to access information? Who will be responsible for ensuring that information is accurate and up-to-date? What information should be recorded?

Issue 2: Who will have access? Staff whose responsibilities include copyright (in whole or in part). –Examples: rights officers; registrars; etc. –Will vary depending on institution’s system for dealing with copyright. What about other staff? Broader question: how does the database achieve Facilitation Goals?

Facilitation of staff activities ‘One-stop-shop’: Staff can use images without having to liaise with copyright staff. Key benefit: efficiency. But: a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing! Information needs to be accurate and up-to-date. Attractive where: –images in high demand; or –copyright information readily available, and compliance straightforward. ‘Centralised facilitation’: General staff must liaise with copyright staff when publicly reproducing collection items. Allows institutions greater control over staff activities, and whether those activities comply with copyright & internal policies. Attractive/essential where: –difficult / costly to compile complete rights information; –tricky conditions on use.

Issue 3: Responsibility for content Ideally, legal information should only be entered and altered by staff who have been appropriately trained. Whenever new information is added, it may be useful to record who added that information and the date. –Helps track whether information is current. Include clear warnings or indicia if there is uncertainty regarding the accuracy of information.

Issue 4: Content Where material is protected by copyright, useful information includes: –identification of the copyright owner(s) (including contact details); –when copyright is due to expire; –the key terms of any licence(s) with the copyright owner(s); –a record of uses by the institution; and –moral rights information. Note: multiple copyrights may subsist in a single item!

Is the item protected by copyright? If no: there are no copyright restraints on use. Answer may be no because: –Work not of a type protected by copyright (eg fossils, plant specimens); or –Copyright has expired (eg pre-1955 photographs). Complications: –Multiple rights: > one copyright in a single item. –Multiple owners: > one owner of copyright. Does EMu allow multiple rights/owners to be recorded? –Rights in underlying works: risk of ‘indirect copying’. Very small risk: but how to record this?

Who owns copyright? Default rule in the Copyright Act: the author or maker, but note: –there are exceptions, for instance for employee- created and commissioned works; and –copyright can be transferred, for instance by assignment or will. Some copyright owners are represented by collecting societies – this should be recorded. Identifying and/or tracking down the copyright owner can be VERY difficult. –‘orphan works’: possible field to record attempts to identify/locate the copyright owner?

When is copyright due to expire? Literary, dramatic and musical works: –Published in lifetime of author: 70 years after the year in which the author died. –Published posthumously: 70 years after year in which publication took place. –Unpublished: effectively indefinite. Artistic works: 70 years after the year in which the artist died. Sound recordings and films: –Published: 70 years after year in which publication took place. –Unpublished: effectively indefinite.

Licences and other transactions Essential that copyright licences are noted in the collection record. Important details include: –name and contact details of licensor; –duration (including expiry date, if fixed term); –rights granted (including any special conditions); and –payment structure (if fees payable). Take great care in summarising a licence: a simplified statement may significantly alter the sense of a provision. It may be useful to record the institution’s uses of reproductions of collection items.

Moral rights Rights of attribution and integrity are granted under the Copyright Act. At the very least, the database should include fields for the preferred form of attribution of the author and the work. Other stipulations or sensitivities should also be noted, such as the need to obtain community consents for some Indigenous cultural materials.

Some final thoughts Take care when using legal terms of art. Words like ‘owner’ or ‘creator’ can be misleading if a legal analysis has not been undertaken. Copyright is tricky. Uncertainty in the rights information is okay – as long as this is clearly indicated and users are warned not to rely on it. Think about why you’re recording rights information. Don’t waste time and money unnecessarily!

For more information: –Hudson and Kenyon, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for Digitisation (2005), available for free from –Case study on databases in Hudson, Cultural Institutions, Law and Indigenous Knowledge: A Legal Primer on the Management of Australian Indigenous Collections (2006), available for free from –Bound copies of each also available for purchase.