not-for-profit A not-for-profit or non-for-profit organization (NFPO) is a Legal Entity, legal entity that does not distribute surplus funds to its members and is formed to fulfill specific objectives. While not-for-profit organizations and Nonprofit organ ...

public company that facilitates reuse of

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

ed material by third parties, collecting fees and delivering the payments to the creators. Its business names include Viscopy, Rightsportal and Smarteditions. It is officially appointed by the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the pr ...

to administer the management and payment of royalties to creators, including acting for educational institutions.

History

On 2 July 2012, Copyright Agency and Viscopy (formerly Visual Arts Copyright Collecting Agency or VISCOPY) entered into an arrangement whereby Copyright Agency would manage Viscopy’s business. On 30 November 2017, Viscopy merged fully with Copyright Agency. This name is still retained as a trading name.

What it does

The company has been officially appointed by the

to manage the Australian education copying scheme, under the Statutory Education Licence. It also manages the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

, State and Territory government copying schemes and the Resale Royalty Scheme for artists. Educational institutions (or a body administering an educational institution) may claim a Statutory Educational licence under Part VB of the '' Copyright Act 1968'' by: # publishing a notice in the '' Commonwealth of Australia Gazette'' (

universities A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

, TAFE institutes, full-time primary and

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

s, pre-schools and

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

s are exempt from this requirement); and # Completing the Statutory Educational license notice and returning to CAL; and # Entering into a CAL Educational license by completing the agreement and returning to CAL. An annual fee is payable by participating educational institutions based on estimated usage of copyright material, usually determined by student numbers.

John Fries Award

The John Fries Award was established in 2010, named in honour former Viscopy director and honorary treasurer, John Fries. Awarded annually to an emerging visual artists, it is a non-acquisitive art prize worth , sponsored by the CAL Cultural Fund, UNSW Galleries and Art Van Go.

Copyright Agency Partnerships

In April 2021, the Copyright Agency’s cultural fund announced the launch of a Copyright Agency Partnerships (CAP) three-year artistic commission series, in partnership with 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, and the Institute of Modern Art in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

. The commissions, worth , are designed to support mid-career and established visual artists with a commission as well as a

solo exhibition A solo show or solo exhibition is an art exhibition, exhibition of the work of only one artist. Rather than a group of artists who collaborate to form an exhibition. The artwork may be paintings, drawings, etchings, collage, sculpture, or photogr ...

, and will run for three years (2021–2024). The granting of the award is judged by representatives of the three institutions and an independent peer. The inaugural winner of the award was TextaQueen, whose project ''Bollywouldn’t'' will be exhibited at A4 in 2022.

Commentary

Nicholas Gruen Nicholas Gruen (born 1957) is a prominent Australian economist and commentator on economic reform, innovation and the CEO of Lateral Economics. He is a visiting professor at King's College London's Policy Institute. He was formerly chair of the ...

commented in 2008 that the cash-strapped educational sector was paying unnecessarily high royalties to CAL, and suggested that a public subsidy to content creators. He also criticised CAL for seeking royalties from for old surveyors' maps held in the New South Wales Government's land registry, for which surveyors have already been paid and which had been deposited on the public record and therefore free for use.

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.copyright.com.au
Copying Rights for Educational Institutions
Australian copyright law Legal organisations based in Australia Mass media companies of Australia Year of establishment missing Copyright agencies