Copyright at UNSW

Presentations 

There are two sides to managing copyright in conference presentations:

• use of work created by others
• your own original material

Under the Copyright Act1968, using material in a conference presentation without permission from the copyright owner is only allowed in certain circumstances, such as:

• an insubstantial portion, for instance a short extract of text or a small portion of an image, may be used without permission, unless the portion is considered key, important or essential to the original work 
• copyright material for criticism, review, parody or satire may be allowed without permission if the use is considered fair in that context 
• material that has an appropriate Creative Commons licence can be used without getting permission from the copyright owner as the licence will indicate what uses are allowed

In all other circumstances, permission from the copyright owner is required. 

Publishing papers

If the conference paper or presentation is going to be published, permission or rights to include copyright material in the published version is required.

Regarding copyright in your own original work, the conference organisers will need to get your permission before publishing your paper. They should be able to provide you with a written agreement or consent form, make sure this is read carefully.

For more information, see the Publishing strategy guide: 

International conferences

When presenting at a conference in another country, the copyright laws for that country apply. The conference organisers should be able to provide information on any local copyright restrictions and obligations, and any plans to publish the papers or record the presentations.

UNSW staff and students can contact copyright@unsw.edu.au for assistance with a copyright query or to arrange a copyright information session.