A warning about using music files without copyright owner permissionÊ

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1.Ê Using your personal music player with University equipment 2.Ê Using
University equipment to deal with music in digital form 3.Ê What happens if I
get caught with infringing music files 4.Ê It is the responsibility of every
student and staff member to be aware of and abide by the lawÊ

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1.Using your personal music player with University equipment


All staff and students are cautioned against using University equipment to
listen to or store music in digital form.Ê

Under Australian law, it is not legal to copy music unless you have the express
permission of the copyright owner, even if you own a copy of the CD or record.Ê
Although the Attorney-General has announced that changes to the law are planned,
amendments to this effect have not yet been introduced into parliament.Ê

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So please do not use University equipment to listen to or store music that you
might have copied to your personal music player such as an iPod, unless you can
prove (1) that you have permission from the copyright owners and (2) that the
music is for QUT- related purposes.Ê Even if you have paid for the music from a
legitimate site like Telstra's BigPond Music or Apple iTunes, or you have the
permission of the copyright owner, you may still be in breach of QUT Information
Facilities Rules if the music is not for QUT-related purposes.

2.Ê Using University equipment to deal with music in digital form


You are also cautioned against using University networks and machines to deal
with music in digital form, either by ripping, burning, peer-to-peer networking,
file-sharing, file-swapping or downloading from sites offering MP3 or other file
formats of copyright music.Ê If done without the express permission of the
copyright owners,Ê these activities are against QUT's Information Facilities
Rules and may also result in an infringement of Australian Copyright Law.ÊÊ Even
if your actions are done with the permission of the copyright owner, you may be
in breach of the IF Rules if the music is not for QUT-related purposes.

3.Ê What happens if I get caught with infringing music files

Representatives of MIPI (Music Industry Piracy Investigations) carry out
surveillance of internet sites and traffic, looking for instances of illegal
music use, with a view to possible prosecutions.Ê In November 2003, three young
Sydney men were found guilty of criminal offences for online music infringement
although they did not make any money out of their activities.Ê Two of them
received jail sentences. In 2004, a court order permitted MIPI to raid several
universities in Australia.

QUT logs network activity.Ê These logs may be used to manage IT resources,
including detecting security breaches and resolving faults, and to investigate
possible unlawful activity or breaches of QUT statutes and rules (see MOPP
F/1.5.8 and Schedule 1 of QUT's Information Facilities Rules).Ê If in the course
of system maintenance, music files are discovered on university equipment, you
will be asked to (1) prove that you have permission of the copyright owner and
(2) justify that the music is for QUT-related purposes.

Penalties for students for breaches of the QUT IF Rules can include suspension
of their QUT Access account.


4.ÊÊ It is the responsibility of every student and staff member to be aware of
and abide by the law.Ê

For your information, the following activities are illegal, if done without the
express permission of the copyright owners, a) making a copy of a CD that you
own, b) copying songs from a CD that you own on to your hard drive or any other
storage device such as an iPod, c) making a cassette tape from a CD that you
own, d) copying a CD belonging to a friend, e) sharing music files across a
network, f) engaging in filetrading of music, g) downloading music from the
internet to your hard drive or any other storage device such as an iPod


All music is owned by someone. A company or an individual owns copyright to the
music.Ê There is copyright in the composition, the lyrics, the arrangement and
the sound recording. The term of copyright protection lasts for 70 years after
the composer dies and for 70 years after a sound recording is published, so all
the music you are likely to download or copy will be protected by copyright.Ê
Under the law, only the copyright owners have the right to reproduce their music
or sound recording. There has still been no change to the Australian law to
allow for private copying of sound recordings, although the government has
announced it intends to do so.


The QUT Copyright Guide can be found at:
http://www.tils.qut.edu.au/copyrightguide/

The QUT Information Facilities Rules can be found at:Ê
http://www.mopp.qut.edu.au/Appendix/append01cit.html