Summary of Good Practice Recommendations

Anyone using material protected by the copyright of another party has a responsibility to:

• obtain explicit permission to reproduce, publish or communicate the work

• offer fair payment, reflecting the work’s value, to licence the work

• meet legal moral rights obligations by attributing the work, not falsely attributing the work and respecting the integrity of the work

• obtain free, informed and considered consent from a creator to licence a work or allow an infringement of their moral rights

Creators have a responsibility to:

• assess any request to use, transfer or licence their copyright to ensure it is reasonable, in their interests and fairly compensated

• respect the copyright of other creators 

• a copyright licensing agreement should outline:

  • whether the licence is exclusive, non-exclusive or a sole licence 

  • the time period

  • the geographic territory covered (for example ‘Australia’ or ‘Worldwide’ or ‘Asia Pacific’)

  • how the copyrighted material may be used

  • any agreed ways in which the copyrighted material may be altered

  • the payment for the licence (e.g. upfront fee, royalties or a combination of both)

  • recognition of the creator’s moral rights

  • the method for managing multiple copyright holders

  • the basis on which the licence may be terminated

  • Indigenous Cultural Intellectual Property (if it is the work of a First Nations artist)

View videos by Arts Law's Artists in the Black program about Copyright and Indigenous Cultural Intellectual Property.

View video by Arts Law's Raw Law program about Copyright, Moral Rights and Contracts.