All Australian states and territories now have arrangements in place for the sale of survey plans.

With the recent addition of Tasmania in February and the Northern Territory last August, the final holes have been plugged in the arrangements for copyright royalties and licensing of surveyors’ plans.

A High Court decision in 2008 confirmed that survey plans are protected by copyright, and that copyright is typically owned by the surveying firm or sole trader who prepared the plan.

This means that surveyors are entitled to be paid when copies of their plans are sold or communicated, including when governments sell plans through land titles offices or authorised brokers.

To achieve the outcome, the Copyright Agency worked with governments to ensure surveyors are fairly remunerated for the use of their intellectual property.

Surveyors who own copyright in their plans may be eligible to receive royalty payments through Copyright Agency’s distribution process. Agency membership is free and surveyors retain full ownership of their rights.

How it works

State and territory governments make copies of plans available through land titles offices and authorised brokers. Because these plans are copyright works, licence fees are payable when they are copied. Copyright Agency collects those fees and distributes royalties to eligible rightsholders.

Surveying firms or sole traders who own or control copyright in their survey plan may be entitled to the payments. But to receive the remuneration, they need to be members of Copyright Agency.

Importantly, membership does not require surveyors to assign their copyright — surveyors remain the owners of their work. Copyright Agency represents surveyors on a non-exclusive basis and simply manages licensing and distributions on their behalf.

Consistent framework

In a statement issued in February on the occasion of the signing of the licensing agreement with the Tasmanian government, Josephine Johnston, CEO of the Copyright Agency, said that “Surveyors produce highly skilled, technical plans that underpin land development, infrastructure and countless public service projects”.

“This agreement demonstrates that surveyors, like all creators, deserve to be paid when their work is used,” she added.

“Across Australia the message is now clear: this sector’s contributions are respected and valued.”

“This agreement establishes a consistent framework for the management of copyright associated with surveying plans lodged with the Land Titles Office, formalising how copyright in that work is managed and providing greater certainty for the surveying profession,” added Matthew Reid, Surveyor General at Land Tasmania.

“Surveyors undertake work that requires specialist expertise, and the agreement acknowledges the intellectual property associated with that professional work.”

Dollar value

In the case of Tasmania, the agreement saw a retrospective licence fee of $258,000 paid to cover the period from the financial years 2020-21 through 2024-25.

In future, the Tasmanian Government will pay an annual equitable remuneration to ensure surveyors are fairly rewarded when their plans are used.

Similarly, the agreement with the Northern Territory government covers a retrospective period and forward licensing from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2028.

More than $66,500 in copyright royalties will be made available to surveyors whose work has been used by or for the NT Government.