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> Learning & teaching > What can I copy as part of my teaching?

Website content

Online content is protected by copyright, and even if it is freely available for you to view or read, it may still require further permission to re-use it. It is important to read website terms of use to understand what uses are permitted and what uses are prohibited. Where content has no terms of use, we must assume that the content is ‘all rights reserved’ which means you need the permission of the copyright holder to do any of the rights protected by copyright (i.e. to copy, to communicate, to modify or adapt, to perform publicly, and to publish). Generally, any online material can be linked to without needing to seek permission.

For online video, you can embed or link to them without needing further permission. Online images may be re-used for teaching purposes under the Copyright Agency licence agreement. For reports and other online publications, we suggest you link to the content rather than make a copy. If you want to make a copy, you are restricted to the text and graphic works copying limits of 10% of the words or one chapter as per the Copyright Agency licence agreement.

Increasingly content is being made available under an open licence such as those developed by Creative Commons – this is often the case for government reports. Generally, you can copy and communicate openly licensed content without seeking further permission, subject to the licence terms. Creative Commons have developed and tested a standardised set of six licences aimed at reducing barriers to access, use, and re-use of copyright material. By attaching a CC licence, creators can enable certain types of uses of their works, particularly if they are not seeking commercial remuneration for those works. There are variations in the licences, and they can have one or more of the following conditions attached:

  • BY (Attribution) – you must attribute the creator of the work
  • NC (Non-Commercial) – you cannot use the work for commercial purposes (where the primary purpose is commercial advantage or gain)
  • ND (No-Derivatives) – you cannot make an adaption or modification of the work and share it
  • SA (ShareAlike) – if you modify the work, you must licence the new work under the same licence conditions.

If you have any questions about Creative Commons, contact the Copyright team.