This guide provides copyright information and links (but not legal advice) which are relevant to the MIT community including students, teaching staff and researchers.
For copyright matters not covered in this Guide, including copyright surveys, licenses and breaches of copyright, contact the Library.
Help is also available from the organisations listed in the External Copyright Contacts box below.
Many thanks go to the University of Canberra Library for allowing the use of their guide to make this one.
Copyright grants exclusive rights to authors and creators of works, the copyright owners, to enable them to determine how their work can be used so their moral and economic interests are protected.
This means that copyright may restrict:
You must obtain permission from the copyright owner to use material in the above ways. Generally, copyright lasts 70 years after the death of the creator of a work. However, copyright duration varies for different categories of material.
Categories protected by copyright include:
Check the duration of copyright for different categories of material.
The Copyright Act's 'Fair dealing' allows the use of text material without permission for the following purposes:
(Australian Copyright Council Fair Dealing 2014)
Educational institutions also have special agreements with copyright owners to allow them to digitise and electronically communicate copyright material.
Some works may be copied under Creative Commons licence.