For government agencies

We provide general copyright advice and information to Commonwealth agencies. You can email us at copyright@ag.gov.au.

Government use of copyright material

The main ways for government to use copyright material are through:

  • statutory licences
  • direct licences, such as the purchase of material or subscriptions
  • creative commons licences and other freely available materials, such as materials where copyright has expired.

Government statutory licence

Section 183 of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) provides a government use statutory licence. Under this licence, copyright will not be infringed by government entities where they use copyright material as long as they use it for the services of the government. The Copyright Act sets out a number of requirements associated with relying on the government statutory licence, including requirements to inform the copyright owner, agree terms and provide for remuneration.

The Copyright Act also provides special arrangements for copying as part of the services of the government in some circumstances. Section 183A of the Copyright Act provides that the requirements to notify the owner of the copyright and to agree terms do not apply to making government copies where the Commonwealth has entered into an agreement with the relevant collecting society. This enables the Australian Government and state and territory governments in Australia to make certain paid uses of copyright material without notifying the copyright owner about each use of copyright material. They still need to meet the other aspects of the agreement with the collecting society, including payment.

Agreements with collecting societies

We manage 2 main agreements between Commonwealth agencies and copyright collecting societies for copying of copyright materials in accordance with s183A of the Copyright Act. This allows participating agencies and bodies to copy copyright material without having to take extra steps to notify the copyright owner, and it means copyright owners are paid for the use of their material. Each agreement covers different types of material:

  • The agreement with Screenrights covers the copying of film, television and radio content.
  • The agreement with Copyright Agency covers the copying and internal communication of written material (including text, images and print music) in digital and hard copy. You can access a list of participating agencies under this agreement.

There is no whole-of-government agreement that covers the playing or performance of music by Commonwealth government agencies. Agencies are required to establish their own arrangements. This could include through a direct licence or other arrangement. OneMusic Australia provides licences that cover government performance of music on behalf of Australasian Performing Right Association and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (APRA-AMCOS) and the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA).

Agencies can email copyright@ag.gov.au for information about the appropriate arrangements for their needs.

Australian Government intellectual property rules

The Australian Government creates and holds a large volume of copyright materials. Agencies are responsible for managing these materials.

The Australian Government provides guidance on how its agencies should manage their intellectual property (IP) and how different types of IP should be used. This is in the form of the IP rules, which comprise the following principles and documents:

You can also email copyright@ag.gov.au to request the following:

  • sample model Information Communications Technology (ICT) contract clauses
  • explanatory material about the intellectual property policy and the model ICT contract clauses.