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COPYRIGHT
Copyright, Trademarks and Passing Off
The Australian Copyright Act, 1968 protects original works of authorship. A work is considered original it is the result of an author's skill and talent. Copyright arises upon the creation of a work. However, there is no system for copyright registration in Austrlia. Copyright notice is not required, but it is recommended. Authors often place copyright notice in a reasonably prominent position on or within their works, for example, "this book is copyright, no part of this publication may be reproduced by any process, electronic or otherwise, without the specific written permission ofthe coyright owner."
The Copyright Act protects literary, artistic, musical, and dramatic works. Copyright also subsists in television and radio broadcasts,sound recordings, films, computer design and artworks, and published editions of work. Literary work under the Copyright Act includes computer programs. The Act protects the source code and object code of computer programs, although protection of "structure, sequence and organisation" remains an unsettled area of the law.
As there is no system for copyright registration in Australia how is the time frame for a copyright determined? Copyright subsists in published literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works for author's life plus 50 years. Copyright in a film or sound recording subsists for a period of 50 years from the end of the year in which the film or sound recording was first published.
Over 1200 Copyright court cases in Australia every year, thats more than 2 court cases every day in relation to copyright.
Thieving Copyright material is similar as
thieving motor vehicles.
The owner of copyright is usually the author of the work. However, in cases where the work, film or sound recording is made within a contract of employment, the employer is the owner of copyright. The ownership of copyright may also be determined by contract.
The copyright owner has the exclusive right to reproduce, publish, publicly perform and braodcast his or her work. The owner also has the exclusive right to make adaptions or derivative versions of the work.
Copyright is infringed by invasion of any of the owner's exclusive rights, or by unauthorised replication or sale of goods in which copyrights assists, a classic example being "pirate tapes and videos". The remedy for copyright infringement include injunctions (court orders to the effect that the infringing behaviour desists), damages, account of profit (profits attained by the copyright infringer being pass onto the copyright owner), punitive damages (designed to punish the copyright infringer) and forfeiture of the infringing goods. The Copyright Act also provides for criminal sanctions, including injunctions, forfeiture, hefty fines and imprisonment.
You cannot copy, recreate, modify, or alter any artwork, design, or other copyright without permission from the author.
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