Getting Paid for Publishing Educational Material Online

Checking my bank account today I noticed a deposit from "Cal - Trust Copyright". It took me some time to work out this was from Copyright Agency Limited (CAL). This is an Australian not-for-profit organization which collects copyright payments and distributes them to publishers and authors. They also collect
and distribute payments under statutory licenses taken out by education and government organizations. The idea is that you say on your document that the
statutory licenses apply and then receive a payment when organizations use them. This doesn't stop you selling copies of the same materials to others, or even giving the material away on-line to other users.

The rules on who holds the rights to material and how the license fees are distributed is bewilderingly complex. But if you prepare some educational material yourself (not as an employee of a educational institution), then you may be entitled to a payment.