The Copyright Agency has made its first payments of almost $200,000 to New South Wales surveyors. This follows the determination of the Copyright Tribunal in July 2013 to award surveyors a fair share of proceeds from the sale of survey plans by the NSW Government.

This first distribution was based on data received from NSW Land and Property Information for sales of survey plans that occurred during 2013. It was shared by more than 400 surveyor firms and individuals.

Later this year the Copyright Agency will distribute the retrospective payment from the NSW government for survey plans sold between 2003 and 2012. The plans have been sold for about $12 directly by the NSW government, and for up to $30 through information brokers.

In a statement about the case, the Copyright Agency explained, “Governments don’t need the copyright permissions usually required, due to special privileges in the Copyright Act. They do, however, have to make arrangements for fair payment to the creators of content they use.”

The Copyright Agency is currently in negotiations with all the remaining states and territories to ensure all surveyors nationwide receive remuneration for the public sale of their plans.

“This inaugural payment is the result of more than ten years of collaboration between surveyors and the Copyright Agency,” said Murray St Leger, the Copyright Agency’s CEO. “The legal recognition of their copyright is a great victory, not just for surveyors, but for all creators who want to be paid when their content is used.”

To be eligible to receive any payments, surveyors need to become members of the Copyright Agency. Since 2008, when the High Court of Australia declared that surveyors owned the copyright in their survey plans, more than 600 surveyors have joined the Copyright Agency.