Copyright protects original works such as literary works, artistic works, dramatic works, musical works, sound recordings, broadcasts, computer software.

Copyright does not protect an idea in itself but who that idea is expressed. Consequently copyright does not prevent the same use of the same idea, as long as the expression of the idea is original.

Copyright protects against the unauthorised reproduction and public dissemination of an original work. Therefore a copyright owner has the right to stop others from copying their original work.

"Original" does not mean the work needs to be particular creative. A work is deemed to be original where the work is created independently with appropriate skill and labour applied to it.

There is no system of copyright registration in Australia. Copyright exists automatically upon creation of the work. This protection extends to most countries in the world.

The Copyright Act determines who owns the copyright in a particular work.

Simply, the creator of the work will normally be the first owner of the work. There are exceptions such as if the creator of the work creates the work as part of their job then in that case the employer will own the copyright or if an author is commissioned to create a work then the party who commissioned the work will usually own the copyright. Parties may form a contract as to who owns the copyright.

In order to notify others of copyright ownership, it is recommended that you mark the works with a copyright notice consisting of the copyright symbol [©], the name of the person or company who owns the copyright and the date of the first publication of the work.

What rights do Copyright owners have?

Copyright owners have the right to:

• Copy the work
• Sell or give copies away
• Perform the work in public
• Broadcast the work
• Adapt the work
• License others to copy, sell or distribute the work
• Stop others from copying the work.