Copyright Basics Every Publishing Creative Should Understand

You’ve just delivered a set of chapter-opening illustrations to a small press. The fee was paid, everyone was happy, and you moved on to the next job. Six months later, at a writers’ festival, you spot your artwork printed on tote bags and notebooks for sale at the publisher’s stall. Nobody asked you. Are they allowed to do that? (This is a hypothetical, but it’s exactly the kind of question that copyright basics answer.)

The honest answer is: it depends on what you agreed; and that’s the thing about copyright. It touches almost everything editors, proofreaders, illustrators, designers, ghostwriters and authors do, yet most of us were never taught how it actually works. We pick up half-truths along the way, like “you have to register it” or “if I paid for it, I own it”, and neither is quite right in Australia.

As a lawyer and fiction editor, I think a little copyright knowledge goes a very long way. In this guide, I’ll cover what copyright protects, when it starts, how long it lasts, who owns it by default, what owners can control and when you need permission to use someone else’s work. Let’s dig in!

What copyright protects (and what it doesn’t)

Copyright protects the original expression of ideas or information, not the ideas or information themselves.¹ That distinction matters more than anything else in this article.

In publishing terms, copyright can protect:

• The text of a manuscript, article, blog post or style guide (a “literary work”)
• Illustrations, cover art, maps, diagrams and design artwork (“artistic works”)
• Photographs, including author headshots and cover photography
• Typesetting and layout of a published edition, which has its own, more limited protection

What it doesn’t protect is the underlying idea, plot, trope, fact or concept. Two authors can write about the same historical event, or two illustrators can draw a dragon guarding a library, without either infringing the other’s copyright. What can’t be copied is the particular words or the particular artwork.

The work also has to be original, which in copyright terms doesn’t mean brilliant or new. It means the work came from the creator’s own independent intellectual effort rather than being copied. A rough first draft is just as protected as a prize-winning final manuscript.

One more gap surprises many authors: book titles, series names, character names and short slogans generally aren’t protected by copyright, because they’re too short to count as a work. If you’re building a series or a business name you want to protect, that’s the job of a trade mark, which we’ll cover in a few weeks’ time.

No registration needed: copyright is automatic in Australia

Here’s a myth worth busting straight away. In Australia, copyright protection is free and automatic, and there’s no formal registration system.¹ Once a creative work is documented on paper or electronically, it’s protected.²

That means you don’t need to file anything, pay anything or wait for approval. It also means you should be wary of websites offering to “register” your copyright for a fee. The Attorney-General’s Department notes that such sites have no authority to guarantee copyright protection in Australia.¹

Two practical habits help, though:

• Use a copyright notice (for example, © Jane Citizen 2026) on your work and website. It isn’t required, but it tells people who to ask for permission.
• Keep dated drafts, sketches, source files and emails. If a dispute ever arises, evidence of when and how you created something is invaluable.

How long copyright lasts

For most works created by an identified author, copyright lasts until 70 years after the end of the calendar year in which the author died.³ So a novel written by an author who died in 2026 will generally stay in copyright until the end of 2096.

There are different rules for some older works, anonymous works and works that were unpublished when the author died, and the law on unpublished works changed from 1 January 2019.³ If you’re planning to reproduce an old illustration, poem or letter, don’t assume it’s in the public domain just because it’s old. Check the author’s date of death and when the work was first made public, or get advice.

For editors working on anthologies, memoirs or historical fiction, this is one of the most common permission issues you’ll spot on the page.

Who owns copyright by default?

This is where many publishing creatives get caught out.

The starting point is simple: the author of a literary or artistic work is the owner of the copyright in it.⁴ “Author” here means the creator, so the illustrator owns the illustration, the photographer owns the photograph and the writer owns the words.

The main exception is employment. If you create a work as an employee under a contract of service, your employer generally owns the copyright.⁵ But most editors, illustrators, designers and ghostwriters work as independent contractors, and the employment rule doesn’t apply to them.

So as a freelancer, you usually keep the copyright in what you create unless your contract says otherwise. If it does say otherwise, it needs to be done properly: an assignment of copyright has no effect unless it’s in writing and signed by or on behalf of the person assigning it.⁶

That’s why “I paid for it, so I own it” isn’t the law. Paying a fee usually gives the client at least permission to use the work for the purpose it was commissioned, but not necessarily ownership or permission for other uses, like those festival tote bags.

Editors are in a slightly different position. Most of the time you’re improving someone else’s work, so the author keeps the copyright. Where an edit becomes substantial rewriting or new material, ownership can get murkier, which is a good reason to deal with it in your agreement. If ownership is meant to change hands, our Copyright Assignment Agreement records the transfer properly, while our Copyright Licence Agreement lets you keep ownership and grant clearly defined usage rights instead.

What copyright owners can control

Owning copyright gives you a bundle of exclusive rights. For text and artwork, the main ones are the rights to:

• Reproduce the work (copy, print, scan or download it)
• Publish it for the first time
• Communicate it to the public, which includes putting it online
• Adapt it, for example by translating text or turning a novel into a screenplay

Because these rights can be split up, owners can license them separately. An illustrator might license cover art for the print and ebook editions of one title, in Australia and New Zealand, for five years, while keeping merchandise, audiobook and international rights. That flexibility is valuable, but only if the agreement spells it out.

Creators also have moral rights, including the right to be attributed as the creator and the right to object to derogatory treatment of their work. Moral rights sit alongside copyright and stay with the creator even if the copyright is sold. Illustrators and designers can use our Illustration / Design Commission Agreement to set out usage rights, credit and moral rights clearly from the outset.

Using someone else’s work: permission and fair dealing

The flip side of protecting your own work is respecting everyone else’s. Song lyrics, poetry epigraphs, long quotations, images found online and maps all commonly need permission before they appear in a book.

Australia doesn’t have the broad “fair use” doctrine you may have read about in American commentary. Instead, it has specific fair dealing exceptions. For example, a fair dealing with a literary or artistic work for the purpose of criticism or review doesn’t infringe copyright, as long as there’s a sufficient acknowledgement of the work.⁷ Other exceptions cover purposes such as research or study, parody or satire, and reporting the news, but each has its own limits.

Whether a use is “fair” depends on the circumstances, so if a manuscript relies heavily on someone else’s material, seek permission or advice early. Editors are often the first people to notice a permissions problem, and flagging it before typesetting is far cheaper than fixing it after printing.

Five copyright myths publishing creatives still believe

Even experienced professionals pick up copyright folklore. Here are five myths I encounter regularly in both my editing and legal work.

1. “I need to register my work to be protected.” Not in Australia. As we’ve seen, protection is automatic, and paid registration services can’t guarantee anything extra.
2. “No © symbol means it’s free to use.” A copyright notice is optional. Its absence tells you nothing about whether a work is protected.
3. “If it’s on the internet, I can use it.” Images, fonts, quotes, and illustrations online are usually someone else’s copyright. Easy to download isn’t the same as being licensed for use.
4. “If I change 10 per cent, it’s a new work.” There’s no percentage rule. The question is whether a substantial part of the original expression has been copied, and a small but distinctive part can be substantial.
5. “Crediting the creator makes it okay.” Attribution is good practice, and it’s required for some fair dealing exceptions, but it isn’t a substitute for permission.

If any of these sounded familiar, you’re in good company. The fix is simple: assume a work is protected until you’ve confirmed otherwise, and get permission in writing when you need it.

What copyright means for different publishing roles

Copyright basics play out a little differently depending on the work you do:

• Editors and proofreaders: you rarely own the text, but you’re often the first line of defence on permissions, plagiarism and unclear ownership. Flag issues early and keep your own style sheets and resources protected.
• Illustrators and designers: you usually own your artwork, so your agreement decides what the client can do with it. Licensing rather than assigning can preserve future income from merchandise, foreign editions or prints.
• Ghostwriters: you’re the author in copyright terms, so your client needs a written assignment if they’re to own the words published under their name.
• Authors and small presses: when you commission covers, maps or internal art, make sure the rights you receive match every format you plan to publish in, now and later.

Copyright basics in practice: a quick checklist

Here’s how to turn all of this into everyday habits:

• Before you start, agree in writing who will own the work and what the client can do with it.
• If copyright is being transferred, use a written, signed assignment.
• If you’re keeping copyright, list the licensed uses, formats, territory and term.
• Agree on credit, and how moral rights will be handled.
• Keep dated drafts, sketches and files.
• Check permissions for quotations, lyrics and images before publication.
• When in doubt, ask before you use, not after.

Putting copyright basics to work

Copyright isn’t a trap. Used well, it’s one of the most practical tools a publishing creative has.

Remember the copyright basics: it protects expression rather than ideas, it arises automatically, it usually lasts for 70 years after the creator’s death, and it belongs to the creator unless they’re an employee or have signed it away in writing. Owners control how their work is copied, published, shared and adapted, and everyone else needs permission or a genuine fair dealing exception. Get those basics right and most copyright headaches never start!

If you’d like to put your ownership terms in writing, our Copyright Licence Agreement, Copyright Assignment Agreement and Illustration / Design Commission Agreement are available now in the Legal Templates shop.

Not sure who owns a piece of work, or whether something you’re planning to use crosses a copyright line? Our Copyright Law service can help you check before publication rather than after.

References

1. Attorney-General’s Department, ‘For Copyright Owners’ (Web Page) <https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protections/copyright/copyright-owners>.
2. Australian Government, ‘Copyright’, business.gov.au (Web Page) <https://business.gov.au/planning/protect-your-brand-idea-or-creation/copyright>.
3. Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) s 33 <https://www6.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca1968133/s33.html>.
4. Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) s 35(2) <https://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca1968133/s35.html>.
5. Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) s 35(6) <https://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca1968133/s35.html>.
6. Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) s 196(3) <https://www6.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca1968133/s196.html>.
7. Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) s 41 <https://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca1968133/s41.html>.

This article is general information only and does not constitute legal advice. For advice about your specific circumstances, please get in touch with WordSmith Legal.