Last updated 16 August 2022

The right of attribution provides that the creator of a work should be known as author of the work whenever:

  • a literary, dramatic or musical work is reproduced, published, performed, communicated or adapted
  • an artistic work is reproduced, published, exhibited or communicated
  • a film is copied, exhibited or transmitted (ss 194–195 Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) (Copyright Act)).

The author must be identified in a clear and reasonably prominent way (s 195AA Copyright Act).

The right of attribution would be infringed in the following practical examples:

  • A television program uses a musical work without the composer being mentioned in the credits as author of the music or the lyrics.
  • A writer submits an article to a magazine for publication, some parts of the body of article are altered by the publisher, and the article is then published without reference to the writer.
  • An artist buys a painting by another artist and superimposes his own signature over the original artist’s signature before selling it on.