Copyright Office

Using PowerPoint for Educational Purposes

For a general information about copyright see Overview of Copyright.

PowerPoint is commonly used in lectures to present material to students. It is not uncommon to include copyright material in PowerPoint presentations. The Copyright Act allows copyright material to be reproduced in PowerPoint presentations for educational purposes. These PowerPoints can also be communicated online via the LMS. Communicate means to make the item available online or to email or fax the item to someone. You can:

You can also show films and perform music in class, separately from a PowerPoint presentation. For more information see: Performances for Educational Purposes.

Conditions and limits apply to using copyright material in PowerPoint presentations:

  1. Limit the amount copied - this will depend on the type of copyright material included in the PowerPoint.
    • Images
      • from a print source, e.g. a textbook, if it can not be separately purchased at a reasonable price within a reasonable time.
      • from an electronic source, e.g. a website. There is no need to check whether or not is separately available.
    • Extracts from books, sheet music or other text - 10% of overall work.
    • If you are printing out your PowerPoint to give a lecture notes or handouts, you can make as many copies as required for the class. For example, if there are 400 students in the class, you can print 400 copies, plus some spares.
  2. It must be for educational purposes - educational purposes are defined as reproducing or communicating material for a particular course of instruction or for the administration of that course. Educational purposes do not cover general or commercial activities of the University, such as marketing and promotion.
  3. You must attribute each third party copyright item with a full citation - for information about correctly citing material see: Citation Styles within the University.
  4. If placing the PowerPoint online you must also:
    • Restrict access to University of Melbourne staff and students - material can be placed on a LMS but not on an open access website.
    • Include a copyright warning notice on the PowerPoint- the notice should appear either before the PowerPoint is opened or on the first page of the PowerPoint. Copies of the notices are available here.
    • Register any textual extracts PowerPoint with the Copyright Office - any textual extracts placed online must be registered with the Copyright Office.

 

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Further Information

 

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