Defines intellectual property, responsibilities of departmental officers and processes for dealing with intellectual property.
Statement of intent
Intellectual Property (IP) covers a wide range of rights, including copyright, patents, industrial designs and trademarks, that protect the product of original and creative effort. Copyright owners can prevent others from reproducing or communicating their work without the owner's permission. However, the Copyright Act 1968 (Copyright Act) allows teachers to photocopy print material in digital and hard copy formats and tape off-air broadcasts within the limits of the licences for educational purposes (see National Copyright Guidelines 
). Also, permission can be obtained from a copyright owner:see LGS-PR-001: Consent to use Copyright Material, Image, Recording or Name.
For the Department of Education and Training (the Department) copyright is significant intellectual property. The Copyright Act provides that where copyright is created by a State employee in the usual course of performing his or her duties the State (as the employer) owns the copyright.
It does not matter that the State employee creates the material (either wholly or in part) outside normal work hours and without using departmental facilities or equipment. Generally, the deciding factor is whether the employee is performing his or her official duties.
For example, a teacher may prepare teaching resources in the evening at home for use by his or her students. Further, the teacher may consider that this material would have benefit to all schools Australia wide. However, since the material was prepared in the course of the teacher's official duties the copyright in this material belongs to the State of Queensland, not to the teacher.
There are limited exceptions to this ownership by the employer, for example, by prior agreement between the employer and employee. This approval would need to be obtained in writing from the Director-General prior to the commencement of the creation of any material.
In addition, where the work was created by or under the direction or control of the State, the State will own the copyright. However, moral rights may still apply to the copyright material created by an employee. Refer to the Guidelines on Moral rights.
The State also owns copyright in an original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work first published in Australia if first published by, or under the direction or control of, the State, subject to any agreement to the contrary. Refer to the Queensland Public Sector Intellectual Property Guidelines (new window) 
, Section 3.3, or for further information contact the Legal and Administrative Law Branch on telephone 3237 0868.
The Department joined the National Education Access Licence for Schools (NEALS), an agreement that allows Australian schools to copy from each other 's websites and publications free of charge. The various education jurisdictions are joining NEALS on an 'Opt In' (only nominated materials will be available under the NEALS agreement) or an 'Opt Out' (all materials will be available by default - only selected materials will be excluded) basis. In either case, if third party material is included in documents made available as part of NEALS it should be clearly identified as not being licensed for further copying by schools. Schools will need to rely on the statutory licence to copy that material. Refer to National Copyright Guidelines or for further information contact the Legal and Administrative Law Branch on telephone 3237 0868.
The Department will endeavour to commercialise intellectual property assets that it owns or manages for the benefit of the State but will not do so in a manner which would significantly interfere with the Department 's operational activities or service delivery.
Responsibilities
Employees of the Department of Education and Training:
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identify existing and newly created intellectual property and notify their manager - Principal (school staff), Regional Executive Director (regional/district employees), relevant Assistant Director-General and/or Director (central office employees) (for further information on identifying intellectual property, refer to
Queensland Government IP Publication and Policies )
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comply with conditions of the NEALS agreement;
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report to the Executive Director, Legal and Administrative Law Branch, any infringements of the use of departmental intellectual property, including publications and products.
Managers (Principals (school staff), Regional Executive Director (regional/district employees), relevant Assistant Director-General and/or Director (central office employees):
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assess departmental intellectual property assets according to the following criteria:
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significant time and effort has been expended to create the intellectual property;
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significant funds have been applied to create/acquire the intellectual property (i.e., more than $20,000);
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the intellectual property is significant to core activities;
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the intellectual property is registered with a relevant authority (i.e., patents, trade marks, plant breeder 's rights and designs);
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revenue is earned from licensing the intellectual property;
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it is a collection of intellectual property assets (e.g., photographs, data contained in a database, advertising materials);
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provide all details about the intellectual property assets to the Principal Lawyer, Intellectual Property and Copyright Law Unit, Legal and Administrative Law Branch for recording in the Intellectual Property Register;
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ensure, where appropriate and feasible, that moral rights of authors are acknowledged when requested;
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Executive Director, Legal and Administrative Law Branch:
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assesses and approves or rejects permission requests from other parties to use departmental intellectual property;
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coordinates the recording of intellectual property assets in the Intellectual Property Register;
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approves the transfer or assignment of intellectual property to other parties;
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advises the Minister, Director-General and Department employees on copyright management issues;
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ensures that any collaborative agreements between the Department and other parties address ownership issues and clearly state all relevant details regarding the departmental publications and products to be utilised or created during the collaboration;
Intellectual Property Management Committee:
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review commercial opportunities that are identified and determine if they are to progress to further concept development;
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determine and authorise development funding for further commercialisation of intellectual property assets.
Principal Lawyer, Intellectual Property and Copyright Law Unit:
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liaises with and assists employees of the Department with identification of intellectual property assets;
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records the departmental intellectual property assets in the Intellectual Property Register and ensures that the Intellectual Property Register is up to date.
Senior Lawyer, Intellectual Property and Copyright Law Unit:
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liaises with and assists applicants and departmental officers on all requests seeking permission to use departmental materials, ensuring that all requests from other parties to reproduce departmental publications and products and approvals or rejections are provided in writing;
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assesses any transfer or assignment of intellectual property rights to other parties on a case-by-case basis and obtains the approval of the Executive Director, Legal and Administrative Law Branch.
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