Section 47J of the Copyright Act 1968 applies when the owner of a photograph makes a copy of it in the other format, a hardcopy photograph into electronic form or an electronic one into hardcopy, for the owner’s private and domestic use instead of the original. If its conditions are met, making that copy does not infringe copyright, but the section is treated as never having applied if the copy is sold, hired or distributed, or if the owner parts with the original.
General informationDotto is not a photo restorer, a photographer or a copyright adviser. It does not scan, restore, retouch, colourise or print photographs, and does not offer or arrange that work. This is general information, not advice.
This page sets out section 47J as it stands in compilation 65 of the Act (2 April 2026) on the Federal Register of Legislation, with a plain summary of each part. It does not say whether any particular copy meets the section.
Subsection (1): when the section applies
“(1) This section applies if: (a) the owner of a photograph (the original photograph) makes a reproduction (the main copy) of it for his or her private and domestic use instead of the original photograph; and (b) the original photograph itself is not an infringing copy of a work or published edition of a work; and (c) either: (i) the original photograph is in hardcopy form and the main copy is in electronic form; or (ii) the original photograph is in electronic form and the main copy is in hardcopy form; and (d) at the time the owner makes the main copy, he or she has not made, and is not making, another reproduction of the original photograph that embodies the original photograph in a form substantially identical to the form of the main copy. For this purpose, disregard a temporary reproduction of the original photograph incidentally made as a necessary part of the technical process of making the main copy.”
Copyright Act 1968, section 47J(1)
The subsection joins its paragraphs with “and”, so all four must be true. In plain words (a summary, not the Act’s text):
- The owner makes the copy. The person making the copy, called the main copy, owns the original photograph, and makes it for their own private and domestic use, in place of the original.
- The original is not itself an infringing copy of a work or of a published edition.
- The format changes one way or the other. A hardcopy original becomes an electronic copy, or an electronic original becomes a hardcopy.
- No second copy in the same form. When the main copy is made, the owner has not made, and is not making, another reproduction substantially identical in form. A temporary copy made along the way, as a necessary step in the technical process, is left out of that count.
Subsection (2): what it allows
“(2) The making of the main copy is not an infringement of copyright: (a) in the original photograph; or (b) in a work, or published edition of a work, included in the original photograph.”
Copyright Act 1968, section 47J(2)
When subsection (1) is met, making the main copy infringes neither the copyright in the photograph itself nor the copyright in any work, or published edition, that appears within it.
Subsections (3) and (4): selling, hiring and lending the copy
“(3) Subsection (2) is taken never to have applied if the main copy is: (a) sold; or (b) let for hire; or (c) by way of trade offered or exposed for sale or hire; or (d) distributed for the purpose of trade or otherwise.”
Copyright Act 1968, section 47J(3)
“(4) To avoid doubt, paragraph (3)(d) does not apply to a loan of the main copy by the lender to a member of the lender’s family or household for the member’s private and domestic use.”
Copyright Act 1968, section 47J(4)
If the main copy is later sold, hired out, offered or exposed for sale or hire by way of trade, or distributed, the protection in subsection (2) is treated as if it had never applied. Lending the main copy to a member of the owner’s family or household, for that person’s private and domestic use, is not caught by the word “distributed”.
Subsection (5): copies of the copy
“(5) Subsection (2) does not prevent the main copy from being an infringing copy for the purpose of working out whether this section applies again in relation to the making of a reproduction of the main copy.”
Copyright Act 1968, section 47J(5)
Subsection (2) does not stop the main copy from counting as an infringing copy when deciding whether section 47J applies again to a further copy made from the main copy.
Subsection (6): parting with the original
“(6) Subsection (2) is taken never to have applied if the owner of the original photograph disposes of it to another person.”
Copyright Act 1968, section 47J(6)
If the owner disposes of the original photograph to another person, subsection (2) is treated as never having applied to the main copy.
Subsection (7): the temporary copy
Subsection (7) deals with the temporary copy that condition (d) leaves out of the count, where the section applies only because of that. If the temporary copy is destroyed at the first practicable point, whether while the main copy is being made or afterwards, making it does not infringe copyright in the original photograph or in any work or published edition included in it. If it is not destroyed by then, making it is treated as having infringed that copyright, if any, from the start.
The owner, throughout
Read as a whole, every condition in section 47J speaks of the owner of the original photograph: the owner makes the main copy, for the owner’s private and domestic use, instead of the original, and does not dispose of the original to another person. Any other use of a photograph that is still in copyright sits with the general rule the Attorney-General’s Department describes: permission from the copyright owner, another exception or licence in the Act, or a term that has ended. The guide to asking permission sets that out, and the guide to section 33 covers when the term ends.