Guide to copying artistic works
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What are artistic works?
Artistic works include graphic works, such as a painting, drawing, diagram, map, chart, plan, engraving, etching, lithograph, woodcut, print or similar work, photographs, sculptures, collages, or models and works of architecture, being a building (any fixed structure) and any other work of artistic craftsmanship.
Remember that although it must be original, an artistic work does not have to have any particular artistic merit to be protected by copyright.
Under the Copyright Act,
- one copy of an artistic work may be made by or on behalf of a person giving a lesson for instructional purposes
- part of an artistic work may be copied by a teacher or student for research or private study
- multiple copies of an artistic work may be made by or on behalf of an educational establishment for educational purposes provided the artistic work is contained within the 3% or 3 pages of a literary work copied under the exception discussed in relation to literary and dramatic works above.
The Copyright Act does not allow you to change an artistic work without the copyright owner's permission.
- For a discussion of moral rights, see What rights do authors have?
Remember that you may not be able to place one whole copy of a work on a school intranet. This may amount to authorising multiple copies of the work, and would not be covered by the exceptions or permissions that allow only one copy of a work to be made, or multiple copies of only part of a work to be made.
- For a more detailed discussion of electronic copying and works on the Internet, see Electronic copying and works on the Internet.
Copying
Copying an artistic work for the purpose of research or private study
This exception allows fair dealing with an artistic work for a person's own research or private study. When considering whether a particular instance of copying amounts to fair dealing for the purpose of research or private study, the following considerations must be taken into account:
- the purpose of the copying
- the nature of the work copied
- whether the work could have been obtained within a reasonable time at an ordinary commercial price
- the effect of the copying on the potential market for, or value of, the work
- the amount and substantiality of the part of the work copied in relation to the whole work.
This exception does not permit the making of multiple copies of a work (ie more than one copy of the same work or part of the work on the same occasion). Accordingly, you cannot direct your students to all make a copy of the same material, as that is equivalent to authorising the making of multiple copies of the work.
Copying a whole artistic work for instructional purposes
This exception allows a person giving a lesson to make one copy of an artistic work from any source that you need to in the course of preparation for instruction or for use in the course of instruction. This means you can make a slide that can be projected on a screen for the whole class to view, but you cannot place a copy on the intranet as this as amounts to multiple copying.
Making multiple copies of a part of a work for educational purposes
This exception allows a copy of a part of an artistic work (provided it is contained within the 3% or 3 pages of a literary or dramatic work that may be copied under the exceptions for copying literary and dramatic works discussed above to be made by or on behalf of an educational establishment for educational purposes. The work you copy from must not be copied again at the school within 14 days. If an artistic work is copied as part of a written work (such as a newspaper article), you cannot separate the picture from the writing.
Copying artistic works for examination purposes
This exception allows you to make copies of artistic works for examination purposes. There are no restrictions on the use of copyright material to set and answer examination questions. This exception may not extend to the storage of examination papers in library databases for future reference and study by students.
Licences
There is no licence which specifically covers artistic works. The following licences allow copying of pictures that are part of literary and dramatic works or typographical works: