Copyright in Australia is automatic from the time of creation of a work if that work is original and not a copy of an earlier work. There is no system of copyright registration, and works do not need to be published to be protected. There is also no need for a copyright notice to appear on a work, although many publishers do add such a notice.

Copyright is not always owned by the creator of the work - it may be owned by the employer of the creator, or by a publisher who acquires the rights from the creator. The term of copyright in Australia is now the life of the author plus 70 years (or, in some cases, year of first publication plus 70 years), although there are some exceptions. It has recently been extended from 50 years to 70 years as a result of the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement.

The Copyright Act allows for some uses of material which do not infringe copyright. These include some uses by government bodies, educational institutions and libraries, as well as fair dealing for the purposes of study or research, review or criticism, and news reporting. A very recent (October 2005) High Court ruling (see http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/high_ct/2005/58.html) reiterated the importance of fair dealing. The case was concerned with mod chipping of games consoles, but the underlying principles have much wider application. Jennefer Nicholson, the executive director of the Australian Library and Information Association, said: "This decision will enable libraries and archives to provide information services to readers without undue technical restraints. It also reinforces the importance of the fair dealing provisions in striking a balance between the rights of copyright owners and users." (see http://www.alia.org.au/media.room/2005.10.07.html for the full press release on this issue).

The Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) (http://www.copyright.com.au/home.htm)  is the major copyright management agency in Australia, representing copyright holders such as authors, publishers, journalists and visual artists. CAL administers copying carried out in libraries, educational institutions, businesses and other organisations. The fees they collect for licensed copying are distributed to copyright holders.  Other organisations representing rights holders in Australia include the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA), the Visual Arts Copyright Collecting Agency (VISCOPY) and there are several other agencies representing more specific forms of copyright material.

The Copyright Act is of special significance to the National Library of Australia, because national legal deposit is covered in section 201 of the Copyright Act, although at the present time this provision refers only to works on paper. 

Those wanting to find out more about copyright in Australia can visit the websites of :
The Australian Copyright Council (http://www.copyright.org.au) which has a series of useful information sheets on various aspects of Australian copyright;
The Copyright Agency Limited (http://www.copyright.com.au/) which also has an information sheet series;
The Australian Libraries Copyright Committee (http://www.digital.org.au/alcc/);
Information Law and Human Rights Division of the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department (http://www.ag.gov.au/ )