The OAK Law Project aims to develop legal protocols for managing copyright issues in an open access environment. The project will integrate with existing open access repositories at both legal and technical levels. It will provide a vital infrastructure for the open access landscape. The OAK Law Project is funded by the Australian Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training, under the Research Information Infrastructure Framework for Australian Higher Education, as part of the Commonwealth Government's Backing Australia's Ability – An Innovation Action Plan for the Future.

The OAK Law Project is pleased to announce the release of two new guides:

A Guide to Developing Open Access Through Your Digital Repository

This guide examines and explains the copyright issues involved in depositing and accessing material in digital repositories. The guide focuses on effective management and promotion of digital repositories and in doing so, examines the relationships between the parties involved in the deposit and access process. Licensing requirements and options are also considered in detail. Finally, the guide touches on more technical considerations, such as software and metadata.

Copyright Guide for Research Students: What you need to know about copyright before depositing your electronic thesis in an online repository

This guide is designed to assist research students in managing copyright issues which they may encounter in writing and depositing their electronic thesis in an online repository. The guide provides a broad overview of copyright law and importantly addresses critical issues relating to the inclusion of third party copyright material in a students thesis. The guide aims to simplify these issues through the inclusion of two model third party copyright permission requests, which students can use to obtain permission from the copyright owner before including third party material.

A copy of the guides is available at http://www.oaklaw.qut.edu.au