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Copyright is a set of rights granted by governments to protect the rights of the creator(s) of a piece of material work (The Copyright Act 1968 (Cth),accessed September 30, 2005). This protection prevents others using or abusing the copyright holder’s creative work without permission.
Copyright laws are not intended to cover the actual ideas, concepts, facts, styles or techniques which are represented by the copyright work, but rather protect the material form of the idea (IP Australia, 2005).
The purpose of copyright is to allow creators to gain economic rewards for their efforts encouraging future creativity and the development of new material. Copyright material is usually the result of creative skill, significant labor and investment, and without protection, it would often be very easy for others to exploit material without paying the creator.
Copyright is controlled in Australia by The Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). The federal legislation sets out how copyright applies for material created both before and after 1968, and has been regularly amended since 1968. The Act deals not only with copyright rights, but also with performers’ rights and the “moral rights�? of individual creators (Australian Copyright Council, 2005).
There is no need to apply or register copyright in Australia, work does not need to be published or be labeled with a copyright notice protection is free and automatic, from the time a work is created in the physical form or recorded in some way (Australian Copyright Council, 2005).
Until 1 January 2005, copyright lasted for the life of the relevant creator plus 50 years. The duration of copyright changed from this date under the Free Trade Agreement with the United States. Under the agreement Australia agreed to extend the general duration, resulting in copyright now lasting for the life of the creator plus 70 years (IP Australia, 2005). It should be noted that copyright duration differs from country to country.
The rapid technological progress in information technology has created many new issues for copyright law. Today, a digital file can be copied and instantaneously distributed worldwide through the Internet, potentially depriving the copyright holder of revenue from licensed sales.
The legal and ethical issues raised by peer-to-peer file-sharing technology can be complex with the control of publicly distributed peer networks being virtually impossible to monitor. Also most peer-to-peer file-sharing technology is designed to provide free information allowing exchange of content; this has raised controversy with arguments stating this freedom has in turn deprived artists of royalties owed in ‘conventional’ sales (Flew). Alternatively others have argued the development of subscription-based sites could increase digital music revenues to be worth over two billion dollars (US) as long as record labels made it easy to buy songs.
On 12 August 1999 The Copyright Act 1968 was amended allowing the reproduction computer programs in certain circumstances without breaching copyright. This development was brought about with the aim of improving the competitiveness of Australian software industry (http://www.dcita.gov.au/ip/digital_rights_management,_and_digital_and_online_ip/computer_programs_and_decompilation/guide_to_the_copyright_amendment_(computer_programs)_act_1999. Accessed September 30, 2005).
In March 2001 the Australian government launched comprehensive reforms to Australian copyright law. The reforms produced changes to copyright law for material in the digital form, addressing copyright issues concerning e-mail, web linking, downloading of material, universal gaming tools and peer-to-peer file sharing(http://www.dcita.gov.au/ip/digital_rights_management,_and_digital_and_online_ip/copyright_reform_and_the_digital_agenda/digital_agenda_copyright_reforms_-_frequently_asked_questions. Accessed September 30, 2005).
The Digital Agenda Copyright Reforms specified that individuals sending each other copyright protected works without the permission of the copyright owner they were infringing copyright and the software producers or servers providing for this activity are also liable for copyright infringement (http://www.dcita.gov.au/ip/digital_rights_management,_and_digital_and_online_ip/copyright_reform_and_the_digital_agenda/digital_agenda_copyright_reforms_-_frequently_asked_questions. Accessed September 30, 2005).
The amendments also specified defenses against including;
Gavin Mathieson 15:35, 18 Oct 2005 (EST)
