It can be tempting to take material from the internet and use it without thinking about copyright. But it’s best not to because you can’t assume that all material found on the internet is free for everyone to use as they wish. Any work that is protected by copyright in the physical world is equally protected in the digital world.
Therefore, unless one of the exceptions to copyright infringement contained in theb Copyright Act apply, you cannot use material from the internet without the copyright owner’s permission. Copyright infringement exceptions apply when you have copied the work for the purpose of criticism or review, or for research or private study, or for certain educational purposes. For more on these exceptions see the “
Exceptions to Copyright” fact sheet.
There are two important additional factors that may allow you to use internet material without seeking permission from the copyright owner:
- Copyright expiration: If the copyright in the work has expired — i.e. the work has entered the 'public domain' as the copyright owner died more than 50 years ago — then it would be OK to use works found on the internet; and
- Copyright licences: Sometimes copyright owners give a licence to the world at large to use their work. Check out the section below about copyright licences
“Free” licences
It is common to come across “free licences”, in particular where copyright works are made available on the internet. A free licence is where the website indicates that you may use the relevant copyright work without needing to ask. It is important to read the website Terms of Use or Copyright page to see if any conditions apply to the free licence. For example, individuals may have permission to use the work for non-commercial purposes, as long as the creator is properly credited. If a broader licence is required or if there is any doubt about the scope of the licence, it is always advisable to contact the copyright owner.
It should not be assumed that all works on the internet are available under free licences. This is particularly relevant in regard to images (photographs) you may find online. There is often confusion as to who the owner of online images may be. Search engines do not own the images that may be found by using a particular search engine and the image may not have been made available online by the creator of the image. If you are seeking to publish an image you have found online, pay particular attention to correctly identifying the correct copyright owner.
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is an organisation that has developed a standardised set of copyright licences to indicate how creative work can be shared, used and adapted. Some creators use Creative Commons licences to give particular rights in their digital copyright material to the public without users needing to ask for permission. Please note though that most Creative Commons licences are subject to terms and conditions, including the requirement that the work be attributed to the copyright owner. If you have any doubts about your intended use and whether it is permissible, you should contact the copyright owner before using the work. If you wish to make use of material available under a Creative Commons licence, it is a good idea to familiarise yourself with the rights and restrictions under the particular licence. See the
Creative Commons website for more information.
Subscription services
Often permission is not needed to use materials that you have subscribed to, such as CD ROMs and online databases. However, often the use will be governed by contract terms which must be adhered to. Again, it cannot be assumed that you can make unlimited use of subscription materials.
Artificial Intelligence
AI is a set of computer technologies that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. Generative AI is a technology that uses information gleaned from databases to create new material based on the inputs of a user. For example, you could ask Chat GPT to write a poem about peanuts, and it would use algorithms to scour the existing material in its databases to create a poem.
Generative AI is quickly growing in popularity and legal systems around the world are working out how to apply existing copyright law to AI created materials. This is a complex area that is currently evolving, so here are a few key point to keep in mind:
- There is no standard international approach to copyright ownership in AI generated material.
- By default, in New Zealand the copyright owner of a computer-generated work is the person who input the parameters to create the work (Copyright Act 1994, section 5(2)(a)). Using the example above, this means you would be the “author” of the peanut poem generated by Chat GPT and the poem could potentially be protected by copyright on this basis, provided that the other requirements in the Act are met.
- A major issue with generative AI is that the technology providers may not own copyright in the underlying material or databases used to train the AI. Generally, there is little transparency from generative AI providers about the nature of the underlying material, but the unauthorised use of copyright material is a matter of significant concern. Watch this space as the law is sure to develop!