From your reading of the Smartcopying website, choose some facts you think teachers or students in your school may not be clear about. Develop two questions for each fact – one for teachers and one for students.

From my experience, a lot of people in schools don’t seem to understand that their actions are “unreasonably prejudicing” the rights of the copyright holder and misunderstand the licensing terms we operate under – I’ll admit that prior to studying for this degree I was just as ignorant. Just recently I had a DP email me to check because a staff member thought it was ok to give our students access to free book torrent sites because it was ‘educational’. I also had to step in when a Year 12 student tried photocopying an entire textbook so he could have his own copy over the holidays!

I’ve come up with the following questions:

For staff: Can I show a movie from Netflix to my class as a reward for them finishing their assessment task?

Answer: Under section 28 of the Copyright Act 1968, staff are allowed to show films, television or radio in their classrooms when it is for educational instruction and not for profit. HOWEVER, if this activity does not have an educational purpose, our school is legally required to obtain a Co-Curricular Licence to avoid copyright infringement. Also, Netflix’s Terms of Use 4.2 state that their content may not be shared with individuals beyond your household and shall not be used for public performances, with the exception of a limited number of documentaries (you can find out more here).

If you wish to legally watch a film with your class please ensure that it is a) educational and b) does not break the service provider’s Terms of Use. You can use our school’s Clickview account to avoid these issues.

For more information please refer to the following resources:

Films and Videos in Schools: https://smartcopying.edu.au/guidelines/films-and-videos/

Netflix Terms of Use: https://help.netflix.com/en/legal/termsofuse

 

For students (though staff might need reminding too!): How much can I photocopy from this textbook?

Answer: It depends. You are allowed to copy limited amounts of material without seeking permission from the copyright owner as long as you are copying for:

• research or study
• criticism or review
• parody or satire
• reporting the news.

The amount you are allowed to copy depends on whether you are unreasonably affecting the rights of the copyright owner to be fairly paid for their work. If the resource is freely available for you to purchase, you should either a) purchase your own copy; b) only photocopy a reasonable portion (a good guide is 10% or one chapter – whichever is greater); or c) seek the copyright holder’s permission to copy more.

No matter how much you copy, you should be labeling it with the details of the copyright owner/author, the name of the resource, where it was copied from, and when it was copied. Where possible, try to copy only what is absolutely necessary or link to the original material instead. Using Creative Commons licensed material will also help you avoid copyright infringement.

For more information about photocopying, please explore the following resources:

Students and Copyright: https://smartcopying.edu.au/students-and-copyright/

Scanning – What am I allowed to do? https://smartcopying.edu.au/scanning-what-am-i-allowed-to-do/

 

Another student in this unit also posed this question, which I think is a great example of how social media in the school context can totally confuse the issue. I’ve copied the information here for future reference, since I’m now a member of the school’s Social Media Committee:

A student is filmed playing a copyrighted song. Can this recording be shared via the school’s Facebook page?

Answer: From https://smartcopying.edu.au/music-copyright-guide-for-schools/

Making audio or video recordings

Under the School Event Licence schools are able to make recordings (this includes both visual and audio recordings):

• of school events at which musical works are performed or a sound recording is played
• to play at a school event (eg copying music to CD or MP3 to play at a school graduation)
• to include in a video or electronic presentation (eg classroom PowerPoint slides, or in presentations at assemblies or functions)
• to play in class, whether face-to-face or virtual (eg in order to play musical works and sound recordings relevant to material being studied).

The recordings made by the school should display the following notice:

‘This recording has been made under a licence from AMCOS and ARIA for school purposes only’.

Schools must also display the following details of each musical work captured in the recording:

• the title
• the composer/arranger
• the artist and recording company (if the school is using a backing track).

Schools can also authorise members of the school community to make recordings of music performed at school events for private and domestic listening or viewing by members of the school community (eg parents, guardians and friends can make a video of a presentation night at which the school band played).

Recording a school event

Schools can make a recording (including an audio or video recording) of a school event at which musical works are performed and/or sound recordings are played. Schools can also synchronise a musical work or sound recording with an existing recording of a school event (eg to add a backing track).

Remember to label the recording in the following way:

‘This recording has been made under a licence from AMCOS and ARIA for school purposes only’.

You must also display the following details of each musical work captured in the recording:

• the title
• the composer/arranger
• the artist and recording company (if you are using a backing track).

For example, you could have this information flash up in the final credits.

What can I do with the recording of our school event?

Schools can do the following with recordings of their schools event(s):

• upload the recording to the school website
• upload the recordings to a password protected school server, intranet or DTE and make this available to parents, guardians and students. For example if parents and guardians are unable to attend an assembly or graduation day, the school could send them a link to the recording on the school’s password protected intranet and allow them to download a copy for their private use.
• upload the recording to an app that is being used by the school for internal school communications to members of the school community, such as Schoolbag, Seesaw, Compass and SZapp. This is limited to apps being used by the school for internal school communications, and would not include apps like Snapchat or TikTok.
• email/message a copy or make a physical copy of the recording (eg copy it on to a USB) and distribute it (for a no cost or on a cost-recovery basis) to members of the school community (eg students and parents or guardians)
• provide a digital or physical copy of the recording to third parties , including other schools and administering bodies, for the purpose of events the school is or would like to participate in (eg competitions and festivals)
• stream a live communication of the school event from the school’s website.

Uploading a recording or live streaming a school event to social media

Schools can rely on the school’s music licences to upload recordings of their school events, or live stream their school events, to the school’s official social medial page on social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube. In order to communicate (ie make available) those recordings from those social media pages, school can rely on the licences that APRA AMCOS and record labels have with the social media platforms.

Note, that where a musical work or sound recording is being performed or played at a school event, the post may still be blocked or muted, see ‘Blocking or muting of events on social media’ below.

Blocking or muting of events on social media

Music recording companies (ie record labels) and some music publishers use software to identify potentially infringing content on social media platforms, such as Facebook. When a school live streams a performance where a musical work or sound recording is being played, or uploads a musical work or sound recording, this software may alert Facebook or other social media platforms to mute the recording or send a takedown notice to the school. If you are concerned about a live stream or recording being muted or your school being issued with a take-down notice, contact the National Copyright Unit.

Alternatively, you may want to consider uploading the recording to your school website or password protected digital teaching environment or intranet.