COPYRIGHT NOTICE
The Copyright Act 1968 – Section 42 (‘Fair Dealing for purpose of reporting news) provides:
(1) A fair dealing with a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, or work with an adaptation of a literary, dramatic or musical work, does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in the work if:
(a) it is for the purpose of, or is associated with, the reporting of news in a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical and a sufficient acknowledgement of the work is made; or
(b) it is for the purpose of, or is associated with the reporting opf news by means of a communication or in a cinematogrpah film.”
PicRights, on behalf of Australian Associated Press, is demanding A$3523.50 for what it says is unlicensed image use of five AAP images in 2024 and 2025, the ownership of which at the time of publication our newspaper/website was unaware.
PicRights wrote to us on February 11, 2026. We replied on the same day, confirming that we had removed the images from the website. One of the images was, in fact, provided to us by Victoria Police. The other four images were of a Crime Scene tape, a head shot of Emma Kealy, crime figure Tony Mokbel, and a Melbourne tram.
Local Media Pty Ltd, publishers of The Local Paper and the Melbourne Observer, asserts that the use of the images was fair dealing, as provided under the Copyright Act s42 (1) (a) and (b).

