Today we had a guest speaker from the library who came to explain to us the basics of Australian copyright law. While the world of copyright law can often be confusing and a little overwhelming, I find it interesting, and as a media student, it’s absolutely vital knowledge if I want to avoid future lawsuits.
In Australia, copyright is automatic. There are no registration requirements and no need to add copyright symbols. However, ideas and facts are not under copyright, only material work. All works have moral rights which are:
- Right of attribution
- Right of false attribution
- Integrity – honour and reputation. Treatment of work, modification/adaptation
While in Australia copyright currently lasts the life of the author plus 70 years, and there are some exceptions under ‘fair dealings’ (such as education, libraries and other cultural institutions), the Productivity Council has just realised a draft report of Intellectual Property Arrangements, which could result in some changes to the current laws. I came across this infographic a few days ago that outlines a few of the concerns the council has with the current laws.
Productivity Commission infographic
The draft report in full can be found here
Changes to the current copyright laws such as the ones suggested above could see the introduction of laws such as the ‘fair use’ laws in the US. While this could mean an improvement for Australians in terms of geoblocking and creators particularly who want to use content created by others for things such as video essays (like the ones we are currently working on), it certainly wouldn’t ‘fix’ all of our copyright issues.
This video below discusses how many creators on sites such as YouTube find their content posted by others on Facebook without their permission. It demonstrates how technology is moving faster than our copyright laws, and how, in the age of the internet, every country is struggle to create laws that are fair to both the creators of the original content as well as those who wish to use it to create something new. Copyright is a incredibly complex issue which isn’t about to be ‘solved’ easily or quickly, but one which presents some very interesting cases.