If you cannot gain exception through Australia’s ‘fair dealing’ or other exemptions, specific licencing, or terms of use, and unless it is legitimately in the public domain, then permission from the work’s owner is required or the work cannot be substantially copied (La Trobe University, 2020; ACC, 2019c).
When copyright permission or exception is gained, attribution needs to be correctly formatted alongside the copied work. The Copyright Act states that the creator of a work must be attributed with reasonable prominence and in line with any reasonable directions (PoA, 2020).
A common form of attribution within research and study is the reference list and in-text references, where use of an even insubstantial amount of another author’s text is recognised. Referencing generally requires the author’s surname, initials, publishing year, title and publisher details or a link to the source. This practice adheres to copyright attribution requirements and legally protects the author from false attribution, such as plagiarism (ACC, 2019b).
For items other than insubstantial textual amounts, different attribution approaches are conventionalised to meet copyright requirements. As a minimum, the attribution should identify the creator and title of the work (National Copyright Unit, n.d.), following any reasonable terms the creator has outlined (PoA, 2020). Further information should be provided regarding its source, any alterations made and any accompanying licencing conditions. This is the approach taken by Creative Commons (n.d.), which aims to streamline copyright and attribution processes by standardising licences and attributions.
Creative Commons’ six licence types are being increasingly adopted by individuals and organisations, such as the Australian Government (n.d.). They allow a variety of copyright preferences for creators and users to support a move towards more open licencing in both online and offline formats (Creative Commons, n.d.). An online attribution may look like this:
Each element of the attribution is linked to its corresponding online location.
An offline attribution would look like this:
In the case of other media like architecture, sculpture, and visual/audio performances and broadcasts, the attribution must be clear and reasonably prominent or audible (PoA, 2020). So that any person who sees, hears or receives the work is made aware of the creator’s name (ACC, 2019b). Unless directed to attribute in a particular way, or even when exempt from copyright, providing name and work title would be a conventional, ethical and “reasonable form of identification” (PoA, 2020, p. 452).
“A Flower” by J. Jones.
Further help with attributions can be found through the digital resource at the bottom of the left hand menu.