According to the World Intellectual Property Organization, intellectual property refers to 'creations of the mind' including paintings, songs, scientific formulae, inventions, novels, plays, poems, plans, drawings. Anything you have written, drawn, invented or created is your intellectual property and is protected by copyright.

What is copyright?

The Copyright Amendment Act 2006 is federal legislation which applies throughout Australia, protecting the intellectual property of an author or creator’s work. Copyright law protects the moral and economic interests of a creator’s work. The law also ensures that an individual’s work is not used without their permission. Other countries have different copyright laws.

Once a work has been created it will have automatic protection under the Act. Material does not have to be registered for the Act to be effective. While a copyright notice (the international copyright symbol - ©) is not required it does identify the copyright owner, and it's inclusion is good practice. There is no formal procedure for adding the copyright symbol - authors can add it themselves.