Notes2u Blog

Copyright and Intellectual Property for your resources, explained

By Notes2u

When it comes to creating, sharing, and using resources for school or the HSC, understanding copyright is essential. Whether you’re writing your own notes, selling them, or using someone else’s, the laws and practices around intellectual property (IP) play a big role in keeping things fair and legal. Here’s a more formal breakdown of what you need to know.

Copyright is protected under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). In Australia, copyright automatically applies to “original works”, including written materials like study notes, essays, or lesson plans. If you’ve created it, you hold the copyright unless:

  • You’ve sold or transferred the rights to someone else officially.
  • It was created in the course of employment, where the employer owns the rights (e.g., tutoring companies).

This means you have the right to control how your notes are used, copied, or sold – but the same applies to others’ resources. Using someone else’s work without permission or proper attribution can breach copyright laws. These laws could theoretically be prosecuted in court, but in practice it’s more likely that if a breach occurs, somebody that loses out as a result of that breach (be it a resource site, tutoring company, or angry private tutor) could make academic or legal claims in court or a tribunal, which could land anyone in hot water and cause them a lot of inconvenience.

In particular, watch out for uploading your notes to other selling, trading, or exchange platforms. While we’re very upfront about allowing people to sell on other platforms, not just Notes2u, some platforms actually expressly prohibit this once you upload to their site, and worse still, other sites actually assume ownership over your copyright and then own the right to distribute, edit, and resell your Resources however they like. So watch out before you sell on these platforms - read the terms carefully, or just use a better platform like us (psst - we also give you better commission!)

The NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) has strict guidelines to ensure students respect copyright during the HSC. Here’s what’s allowed and what’s not, according to their HSC Policy and Procedures document:

  1. Fair Use for Study Purposes:

    • Students can directly incorporate small portions of copyrighted works (e.g., quotes from a textbook) into their own materials for personal study.
    • Copying entire works or large sections and claiming it as their own work, even for personal study and not submission, breaches copyright. This includes a publishing company’s textbooks, your teacher’s excellent PowerPoints, or your best friend’s notes!

  2. Plagiarism Policies:

    • Submitting someone else’s work as your own is strictly prohibited.
    • Even if you’ve bought or borrowed notes, you must rewrite them in your own words or properly reference the source.

  3. Examinations and Assessments:

    • Using copyrighted material in assessments (e.g., visual or written works) requires attribution, even if it’s part of your exam response.
    • Always follow NESA’s HSC Rules and Procedures for assessments, which emphasise original work and proper acknowledgment.

NESA (and your school’s teachers) are known to take copyright enforcement seriously. This includes the use of plagiarism-detection software to automatically check all submissions for both internal assessments and external exams. These tools can identify copied material, even from past student submissions or external resources, ensuring all work adheres to copyright laws and academic integrity standards. Universities also use tools like Turnitin to make sure you aren’t plagiarising yourself (like resubmitting something you previously used for assessment again) or copying your friends’ works and submitting them at the same time.

Using others’ resources responsibly can broaden your understanding of subjects, but copying or relying on them too heavily undermines your learning. Here’s why responsible usage matters:

  • Deepening Knowledge: Reviewing notes, essays, or study guides written by others can provide fresh perspectives, like we point out in our other blogs on why others’ resources broaden your horizons!
  • Academic Integrity: Properly referencing or rephrasing material is not just about avoiding penalties – it’s about building your skills in extracting, analysing, and processing information.
  • Ownership of Learning: Learning isn’t about finding shortcuts; it’s about engaging with as much material as possible to develop your own understanding.

If you’re working as a tutor, whether you own the copyright to the materials you create depends on the context:

  • In the Course of Employment: If you’re employed and paid to write resources, the copyright likely belongs to your employer.
  • Independent Contractors: If you’re a contractor and writing resources is not part of your job description, you may retain copyright. Always check your contract or speak to your manager (politely!) about whether you own the copyright. If you want to sound more polite, you could always ask for permission to use only the resources you yourself made in your own “small private tutoring or income earning” - this keeps things vague and won’t alarm your boss by making them think you’re hawking away company intellectual property on the dark web! If anything, it might make your boss give you a raise to cover the cost of acquiring your intellectual property! For private tutors creating resources independently, the copyright belongs to you unless you explicitly sell or transfer those rights.

Key Takeaways

  • Protect Your Work: Whether you’re creating or selling resources, it’s your responsibility to ensure you follow copyright laws and NESA’s guidelines.
  • Respect Others’ Work: Use others’ resources responsibly – they’re tools to help you learn, not shortcuts to success.
  • Know Your Rights: As a tutor or resource creator, check your employment terms to clarify copyright ownership.

Before you make decisions about using, sharing, or selling materials, always refer to the relevant laws, assessment policies, and the terms and conditions of platforms like Notes2u. It’s your work, your money, and your responsibility – so make sure you’re informed, and then you can start earning!

Disclaimer: This is not legal or financial advice. Consult a lawyer or applicable academic misconduct policies if you require legal advice for your specific case. Check out Notes2u’s Terms and Conditions for more details about copyright and selling your resources on our site.