1. Copyright and Higher Degree Students
Sian Dewar
Deputy Compliance Officer for the Copyright Act
Images in this presentation are © Curtin University Library or licensed under a CC0 licence (dedicated to the Public Domain)

2. What is Copyright? Quick review of Copyright
Intellectual Property right protected under the Australian Copyright Act 1968
Copyright protects the expression or manifestation of ideas, not the idea itself, of a creative work.
Creative works include
literary works like books and journals;
audio-visual works,
graphic works and
artistic works.
Copyright holders have an exclusive bundle of rights
reproduce,
communicate,
publish,
adapt or translate,
play or perform a work in public.
To do any of these things you need permission of the copyright
holder unless your activity is covered by an exception in the Copyright Act.
Protection is automatic, you do not need to register your copyright.
Copyright has a finite lifespan. Generally life of creator + 70 years.
It applies to hardcopy and electronic content.
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3. 1. If in doubt, contact the Library Copyright Team
Five key aspects of copyright relevant to your position as a thesis supervisor.
Library Copyright team is available to help
We offer a query service to Curtin staff and students on use of copyright material for teaching, learning and research.
Host of information at the Copyright at Curtin Website.
Happy to answer queries as can be complex. or phone is best
We do receive a number of queries from HDR students, as their copyright issues can be quite complex.
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4. 2. Students will almost always require permission
2. HDR students will almost always require permission
Australian Copyright Act does have an exception to permit students to make copies of material for the purposes of research and study.
This is called Fair Dealing. Generally limited to making a single copy, and a reasonable portion (10% of the words/1 chapter per book limit).
When students deposit their thesis into espace, their purpose changes to publication, so they must seek permission of copyright holders to include third-party content.
This includes figures or images from scholarly articles, as well as substantial copies of text.
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5. Seeking Permission
Template letter at
Start permissions early
Retain copies of permissions
Seeking Permission
Landing page of commercially published journals – Copyright Clearing House RightsLinks Service
Permission contact details in the Terms of Use on Copyright section of website
For circumstances where a particular permissions form is not provided refer to the permissions letter template available at the Copyright at Curtin website.
Recommend students start early when seeking permissions (particularly with overseas copyright holders).
Permission needs to be in writing, s are fine.
These will need to be attached as an appendix to the student’s thesis.
Where permission is not received, students will need to remove the content from the thesis before it is lodge in espace.
The Library espace team may help them with this.
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6. 3. Understand when students do not require permission
There are a handful of circumstances when students may copy content to include in their thesis without permission.
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7. OK to use without permission
Quotes and short excerpts
Openly licensed content
Public Domain content
Quotes and short excerpts, as long as they are appropriately referenced.
Content available under an open licence, such as Creative Commons.
CC content will be clearly marked as such online.
Public domain content, public domain is when the term of copyright protection has lapsed. After this period, you are free to copy and share the content without seeking permission.
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8. 4. For Thesis by Publication, advise students to read, understand and retain their publisher agreements
Theses by Publication and Hybrid Theses are complicated by publisher agreements.
Where chapters in the thesis were also published as scholarly articles,
students need to check their publisher agreement
to confirm they have permission to re-use their own content.
In many cases, authors are transferring their copyright ownership to the publisher.
The best advice to students is that they read before signing and keep a copy to refer to later.
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9. 5. Be aware of the Copyright-related questions in University Forms
Lastly be aware of the University forms the students will need to sign in relation to copyright.
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10. Form 1: Copyright and Release of Thesis for Examination
There are two forms students must sign relating to copyright.
Form 1: The Copyright and Release of Thesis form
Generally students retain their copyright in the thesis, unless it relates to a University or externally funded project.
Students need to affirm that they are clear on the University’s policy.
Students are asked to grant the University the right to display or copy the thesis, and allow the Library to make the thesis available to others for educational purposes.
Source: retrieved 13/02/2018
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11. Form 2: Submission of Digital Thesis Form
Students to verify their thesis does not contain copyright infringing material, and they’ve obtained necessary permissions.
Students are asked to include permissions as an appendix to their thesis.
Source: retrieved 13/02/2018
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12. In summary:
If in doubt, contact the Library Copyright team
Students will almost always require permission to use third party content.
There are limited circumstances where permission may not be required.
For Thesis by Publication & Hybrid Theses, take note of publisher agreements.
Students have certain copyright ‘sign-offs’ in their forms.
If in doubt, contact the Library Copyright team
Students will almost always require permission to use third party content.
There are limited circumstances where permission may not be required.
For Thesis by Publication, take note of publisher agreements.
Students have certain copyright ‘sign-offs’ in their forms
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13. Further Resources:
Copyright for HDR Students: assisting both HDR Students and Supervisors successfully navigate copyright obligations associated with Higher Degrees by Research.
The 15 minute online training module can be accessed by logging into iPerform and searching Academic Integrity: Copyright for Staff.
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