Intellectual Property and Copyright - Information for Schools

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Information for Victorian government schools

School students and educators may need to use copyright materials. Students may need to use these materials for research and study, while teachers may need to use copyright materials both for their own research, and to support curriculum delivery.

The Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) recognises these needs, and provides ways in which students and school-based staff can use copyright materials without needing to seek permission from the copyright owner. However, there are limits to the extent of the use that may be made of copyright materials.

For more information about IP and copyright in schools, see

• School students - information on how students can use copyright material
• School staff - information on how school-based staff can use copyright material, and for information on how school administrators can ensure that copyright is managed effectively in their schools
• Frequently Asked Questions

If you cannot find the information you are looking for on these sites, there is also information about copyright issues for schools available on the Smart Copying website at http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/scw/go.  The Smart Copying website is a Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) supported site containing information relevant to Government and non-Government schools nationally, so it has a slightly different focus to this Department’s website.  Among other useful information, it contains National Copyright Guidelines and a series of Copyright Information Sheets.