4 May 2006 

To make it easier for customers, Standards New Zealand has removed password access to electronic copies of Standards and introduced a 'watermark'.

"Informal feedback and market research tells us customers want to be able to purchase and then access electronic documents without having to re-enter a password everytime," says Grant Thomas, General Manager of Marketing at Standards New Zealand.  "In response to this feedback, we have removed the password requirement."

A 'watermark' has now been placed on the background of each page of all electronic documents as a reminder that the document is the copyright of Standards NZ and to give customers a short summary of the licence conditions.

Copyright

Standards NZ is a not-for-profit Crown entity.  "To continue to exist and to continue developing Standards for the benefit of all New Zealanders, we rely on revenue from contracts with industry and government, and from sales of publications," says Grant.  "A lot of time, effort and financial investment have gone into developing each one of our documents, and the price of the end document is relatively small, but very important to enable Standards development to continue."

Protecting Standard NZ's copyright is therefore paramount.  Copyright, or the exclusive right to copy, exists for all documents published by Standards NZ.  Standards NZ retains the exclusive right to make copies of those documents.  When you purchase a Standards NZ document, in either electronic or hardcopy form, you are not entitled to make further copies yourself unless the licence conditions specifically allow this.

"We appreciate our customers' continued support through purchasing Standards.  The introduction of the 'watermark' will make using electronic documents much easier for customers," says Grant.  "But it relies on the honesty of customers to follow copyright terms and conditions.  Breaching copyright will have far-reaching consequences, not only for our organisation, but also for the public good of New Zealand."

Terms and conditions 

When customers purchase electronic documents, they agree to detailed terms and conditions, either by clicking on the accept button on our website, or by physically signing and returning hardcopy terms and conditions.  A 'watermark' copyright warning, as well as a short summary of the terms and conditions is provided on each page of electronic documents as follows:

• Downloaded PDF Documents:

"On {Date} {User Company/Person Name} purchased a single use licence to store this document on a single computer.  {User Company/Person Name} may print and retain one copy only."

• On-line Subscription Service PDF documents:

"Employees of {User Company/Person Name} are licensed to temporarily download this document.  {User Company/Person Name} may print this document but not more than 10% of the documents subscribed to may be held in printed form at any one time."

• Network license PDF documents:

"On {Date} {Company name} purchased a network license for up to {X} employees to access this document via a network server.  {Company name} may print and retain one copy only per licensed user."

Note:  Making copies of Standards NZ documents without permission can carry serious legal consequences.  In addition to the usual range of civil remedies available to the copyright owner, under the Copyright Act every person who infringes copyright may be liable to a fine not exceeding $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months.