Getting permission

There will be times that getting permission from the copyright owner to use their material is required.

Overview

While the permissions process is too broad to be fully covered here, please seek assistance if you want to understand your individual permission circumstances.

This is general advice only.

Why do I need to get permission?

There will be many reasons why you need to get permission, some reasons could be you wish to:

• include the third-party material in your published work
• include, perform or display the third-party material publicly
• copy more than what is allowed under fair dealing
• commercialise creative commons non-commercial material
• extend the permission to activities you did not include previously
• hold a public event with film or music.

Identify the copyright owner

As copyright rights can be bought, sold, and rented out, the copyright owner is not always the creator/author of the work.

To identify who is the copyright owner, check your source (where the third-party material you want is copied from).

Check the website, book, journal or other material for a publisher and check if they have a copyright statement or page that details what copyright rights the publisher has and if they outline other rights that exist.

Other places you can use to locate a copyright owner:

• Check with creator/author to see if they still own the rights.
• Check with a collecting society (Copyright Agency for written work, APRA-AMCOS or ARIA for music).
• A museum or gallery if the work came from there.
• Film production company or Screenrights if material was broadcast.
• Most government works (Commonwealth and State) are creative commons, but go to the department that published the material to start with.
• If the material was never published, contact the creator/author or their employer.

Identify what copyright rights you want

Which of the copyright economic rights do you wish to undertake with the third-party material you have?

• Reproduce – photocopy, film, record, scan or digitise the material?
• Publish – publish the material in traditional ways (such as print, record, CD) or publish on the internet?
• Communicate to the public – make the material available to the public?
• Broadcast – use traditional broadcasting to broadcast to the public?
• Perform – perform the work to the public via internet, on stage or public venue?
• Adapt – adapt the work into another language or make new material based off the original copyright material?

Permission considerations

Here are some things to consider during getting permission.

1. Give it time – large publishers can take weeks to get back to you, ensure you send your permission request with plenty of time before your own deadline.
2. Know approximately how many copies of your material there will be. For example, 500 copies or venue capacity of 50.
3. Know approximately what the distribution of your material will be. Internet is world-wide or a local release such as Australia only.
4. Understand copyright owners are entitled to request payment – expect the possibility.
5. If your material will be non-commercial or creative commons – be explicit about that in your permission request.
6. Have a back-up plan (different material) if the rights or payment are not suited to your needs.

Many large publishers will have online forms for you to fill in to complete your permission request.

Other places you may need to write an email with your request.

Don’t be afraid to follow up if you think it is taking too long – you cannot use the material until you have written permission.

You can negotiate if what the copyright owner offers (rights/payment) is not what you want.

Once the copyright owner and you have come to agreement on the rights (possible payment) then the final document is a written permission. These can be called a permission, a licence or a contract.