When is copyright infringed?

Copyright owners have the exclusive right to deal with their material in certain ways, including to reproduce it
by photocopying, typing, copying by hand, and scanning into computer memory. Reproducing copyright material
without the copyright owner’s permission, will usually infringe copyright. Reproducing part of a work may also
infringe copyright, if the part is important.

Reproducing part of a work
It is a question of fact in each case whether a part is so "important" that permission is needed to reproduce it.
There are many court cases about whether reproducing part of a work infringed copyright, such as the case where
the court held that reproducing 4 lines from a 32 line Kipling poem infringed copyright. However, these cases each
depend on their own facts, and do not give clear guidelines about the number of words, or percentage of a work,
which may be used without permission.

The quality of the part is more important than the quantity or proportion. The part may be a small proportion of
the whole work, particularly if it is has resulted from a high degree of skill and labour.

The purpose of the use may also be relevant; if you are using the part for a commercial purpose or to include in a
competing work, it is more likely you will need permission.

Copyright in a literary or dramatic work may be infringed by quoting directly from the work or by paraphrasing
the work if either involves a reproduction of a substantial (in the sense of important) part of the work.

There are special exceptions in the Copyright Act which allow use of copyright material for certain purposes
without permission. The special exceptions most relevant to readers of this information sheet are:

•  fair dealing for criticism or review; and

•  fair dealing for research or study.

You may reproduce a work, or part of a work, for the purposes of criticism or review without the copyright owner’s
permission. For example, you may reproduce an extract from a book in a newspaper review provided your use is
fair, and genuinely for the purpose of criticism or review. You must also identify the work and its author. In one
case, the court referred to the following Macquarie Dictionary definitions:

"criticism" 
1. the act or art of analysing and judging the quality of a literary or artistic work, etc:literary criticism. 

2. the act of passing judgment as to the merits of something...4. a critical comment, article or essay; a critique."

"review" 
1. a critical article or report, as in a periodical, on some literary work, commonly some work of recent appearance; a critique...

You may reproduce a work, or part of a work, for the purposes of research or study without the copyright owner’s
permission. For example, you may reproduce a quote or extract in an essay or thesis written as part of a course of
study. Your use must be fair, and genuinely for the purpose of research or study. The Copyright Act provides that
it is fair to copy up to 10% or one chapter of a literary, dramatic or musical work published in an edition of more
than 10 pages, and up to one article from a periodical, or more than one if they relate to the same subject
matter. Copying more than this amount may be permissible in some circumstances.

When is permission needed to use a quotation?

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