Objective

The Australian Sewing Guild (The Guild) is committed to the free sharing and exchange of information about sewing. However, it is important that the ownership of intellectual property (IP) is clear and that members and volunteers of The Guild protect the IP of The Guild, do not infringe on the IP rights of others, and comply with legislation relating to IP.

This policy provides a framework to identify, manage and support the IP rights and assets of ASG and of third parties.

Scope

Intellectual property (or IP) is a legal term used to describe creations of the mind. Examples of IP are: an organisation’s name, logo and branding; publications and training materials; photos and other artistic materials; literary, musical, artistic and dramatic works. There are different types of IP including copyright, trademarks, designs and patents.

This policy focuses on copyright and moral rights as these are most relevant to the activities of The Guild.

This policy applies to all The Guild officeholders, volunteers and members.

 Policy

The Guild will protect the IP owned by The Guild and will respect the IP rights of third parties.

Rules and Guidelines

Copyright

Copyright protection in Australia is automatic and is protected under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Copyright in a work does not need to be registered. Unless there is another agreement, copyright is generally owned by the author of the work. There is an exception for employers to own copyright in certain works produced by their employees, but this does not apply to volunteers and contractors.

When a volunteer or contractor is creating works to be used by The Guild, The Guild will agree in writing whether The Guild will own the copyright for that work (refer to the Guild Volunteer IP Agreement). The Guild will generally seek copyright ownership of the following works that may be created by volunteers or contractors:

• The Australian Sewing Guild logos, branding, artwork, brochures and the like
• Materials developed for The Guild sewing skills library
• Training materials developed to be published on The Guild website
• Newsletters
• Website
• The Guild documents such as policies, forms, position descriptions and templates

Ownership of other works will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

The Guild encourages reuse of its IP to support the aims of The Guild, in return for appropriate acknowledgement of author rights (where known) and acknowledgement of the Australian Sewing Guild as the source. The Guild will not unreasonably withhold permission to reuse its IP in line with this approach.

Moral rights

Moral rights are the rights of the creator of a work to:

• Be given credit as the author of the work (right of attribution)
• Not have someone else credited as the author of their work (right against false attribution)
• Not have their work treated in a derogatory manner – for example, changed in a way that reflects negatively on the author (right of integrity)

Moral rights continue to be held by the author even if they have transferred copyright ownership to someone else. The author can give consent to actions which would otherwise infringe their moral rights.

The Guild will make all reasonable efforts to acknowledge and protect the moral rights of authors of copyright works. The Guild will seek to obtain written consent from the author if it intends to take any action which may infringe their moral rights.

Use of third party IP

The Guild will use the IP owned by others in accordance with IP law and/or contractual agreement.

Examples of uses of third party works that may infringe copyright include photocopying, emailing, broadcasting or printing material; recording a video that incorporates music that is subject to copyright protection; communicating material to the public by making it available on a website or social media site.

All volunteers and members seeking to use third party materials for The Guild purposes must ensure either that the use does not require permission, or that appropriate permission has been obtained.

Breach of this policy

Any office bearer, volunteer or member who becomes aware of an actual or potential breach of this policy should report the issue to any member of the Board of Directors. The Board will take appropriate action to address the infringement.