[English] legal deposit

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

Just a thought, our legal deposit laws may well be
raised with admins, areas and students now & again.

One wonders if the law applies to webpages, as it's
a $200 fine for not depositing 'public publications'
with the State library. Anyone know about webpages?

--
Legal Deposit in Australia

<http://www.nla.gov.au/services/ldeposit.html#req>

What is Legal Deposit 

Legal deposit is a statutory provision which obliges
(any) publisher to deposit copies of their publication
in libraries in the country in which they are published. 

Under the Copyright Act 1968 and various state
Acts, a copy of *any* work published in Australia
must be deposited with the National Library of
Australia, and the appropriate State library.

Legal deposit extends not only to commercial
publishers but also to private individuals, clubs,
churches, schools, societies and organisations. Legal
deposit of the material is the sole responsibility of
the publisher or author.

What are the Requirements of Legal Deposit ?

Definition of a work 

A work can be a book, a periodical such as a newsletter
or annual report, a newspaper, a piece of sheet music,
map, plan, chart, table, program, catalogue, brochure
or pamphlet.

In some states it also includes material published in
electronic format such as CD’s and computer disks. 

Definition of publication

A work is deemed to have been published if reproductions
of the work or edition have been made available (whether
by sale or otherwise) to the public. <snip>

Copyright

Legal deposit should not be confused with copyright.

Under the Copyright Act 1968 copyright protection is
granted automatically in Australia from the moment of
creating a work. There are no formalities to be 
completed, such as registration or payment of fees.

Publication is not necessary for copyright to subsist
in the work .. however, library records and the legal
deposit receipt issued to the publisher by some legal
deposit libraries may be used as evidence of date of
issue.

The Australian Copyright Council does provide advice
to authors & publishers: http://www.copyright.org.au
--

Cheers people
Stephen Loosley
Victoria Australia