I posted an extensive set of notes on copyright last year — it’s still a pretty handy overview of copyright law in Australia and I’ve referred to it a few times since I posted it.

The basics are:

• Copyright is automatic and doesn’t need to be registered, and even unpublished works are subject to copyright
• Ownership of content can be shared/assigned to another (e.g. employer, or through licensing)
• Copyright comes with moral rights of attribution and integrity
• There are exceptions:
  • Fair dealing (research, study, criticism, news reporting, parody), though there are restrictions to what is allowed under fair dealing
  • Education
  • Libraries / archives
  • Cultural institutions and museums

These guidelines are particularly pertinent to bloggers who might use non-free media like images and videos in their posts, or for example critics who quote from works of literature or cinema in order to criticise it. Bloggers have to be careful not to use infringing material in their posts or they may be liable to prosecution.

I’m going to aim to stick to public domain or Creative Commons media in posts where I can’t use my own work.