Copyright owners may give other people permission to use their works. Many people who write up dance sheets are happy for other people to copy and distribute their dance sheets for free. One way to notify people of the uses you will and will not allow is to put a statement on your dance sheets. For example, you may put a statement on the dance sheet stating that people can copy it provided that your name is left on the dance sheet to let people know that you are the author of that sheet.
Material that is on the internet is protected by copyright in the same way as material that is available in other forms, such as in print.
If you want to print or download a dance sheet from the internet, you generally need permission from the copyright owner.
Sometimes a copyright owner will publish a notice with their works that gives information about whether the works may be downloaded and reproduced for certain purposes. For example, “our dance sheets may be down-loaded from the internet and photocopied for a non-profit purpose”. If no notice appears with the work, you should not assume that it may be used freely. However, in some cases there may be an “implied licence” to print a copy: for example, if there is a “printer friendly” button. For more information, see our information sheet Internet: copying and downloading material.
Merely making alterations to a dance sheet before copying it will not necessarily avoid infringement.
What is important is whether you have copied the original elements of the way the person who wrote out the dance sheet expressed the information about the dance. In some cases, writing down the steps to a dance in your own way may avoid infringement, if the dance itself is not protected by copyright.
Names and titles are generally not protected by copyright.
If your performance comes into one of the categories of performances that are protected, your permission will usually be needed before your performance can be filmed.
The filmmaker may be able to film you without your consent if he or she can rely on an exception, such as reporting news or “criticism or review”. As a practical matter, however, this is generally only an issue where you are performing in the street or otherwise in public areas. In venues such as theatres and concert premises, entry to performances is often subject to restrictions on filming which override the ability of the filmmaker to rely on the exceptions in the Copyright Act. If you are concerned about people recording or filming your performance in such venues, talk to the operators of the event or the venue management.
Copyright does not protect ideas or information as such, but it does protect the way in which information or ideas are expressed. Therefore you do not infringe copyright merely by using other people’s ideas in your dances. For more information, see our information sheet Ideas: legal protection.