Copyright Office

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Music industry opens new front on piracy - The Music Industry supports a proposed new law that would require ISPs to disconnect users that repeatedly infringed copyright (The Age 25/04/08)

Australia stalls on indigenous copyright: expert - Australia needs to reconsider how it protects and manages indigenous Australian's copyright (The Age 21/04/08)

It's patently obvious: innovators lose on IP - Article looking at how academics are failing to protect and capitalise on the intellectual property in their research. (The Age 21/04/08)

Unis forced to re-think IP policies - A recent court decision on the ownership of intellectual property by academics at the University of Western Australia, means that many Australian Universities may need to rethink their IP policies. (The Australian 18/04/08)

Music cuts threat in copyright case - Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA) is taking legal action against the commercial TV networks seeking an increase in royalties for recording artists for the use of music on TV. (The Australian 27/03/08)

The great firewall of China- One of the great strengths of the internet is that material is freely available to all people and that anyone contribute. However some countries, most notably China, are censoring people's use of the internet (The Age 20/03/08)

Crackdown on illegal downloaders - An Australian ISP already prevents users who repeatedly infringe copyright by downloading infringing material from browsing the web. Australia is considering a "notify and disconnect" regime to deal with repeat copyright infringers (The Age 20/03/08)

Copyrights (and wrongs) - The Primary Sources on Copyright History Project website is making many original and historical papers on the development of copyright law available in full text. (Physorg.com 19/03/08)

Virtual reality can yield real legal woes - Virtual content created in virtual reality programs such as Second life is still subject to legal constraints and issues such as copyright. (Physorg.com 19/03/08)

Creativity at mercy of intellectual pirates - Theft or piracy of intellectual property, including copyright material, may impact on people's desire to create. See also a related podcast - on modern day pirates (BBC News 19/03/08)

P2P: Three Problems, One Big Headache - P2P software does not just create problems because of illegal downloads, the using the software can also have security implications for computers and networks (IT BusinessEdge 19/03/08)

Lawyers offer lessons in legacy - Article discusses the copyright issues involved in indigenous art when the artist dies and the copyright passes to the deceased's estate. (The Australian 14/03/08)

So, what episode are you up to? - The Underbelly controversy continues to rage, with many Melburnians continuing to access pirate copies. Police have also arrested a man for piracy and found pirate copies of latest release movies, as well as Underbelly - see Police seize Underbelly DVDs (The Age 11/03/08). For background and more information see:

Wiki a winner for most - Wikipedia is now one of the world's top 10 websites. The free encyclopedia is created collaboratively and the material is freely available. (The Age 11/03/08)

Olympics site removes dodgy game - The Bejing Olympics website has removed an online game after it was accused of infringing copyright by the creator of a similar game. (The Age 10/03/08)

What the frock? A designer's costly dressing down - Fashion label, Review, has won a law suit after their fashion design was copied by another Australian label. (The Age 09/03/08)

Museum Piece - Libraries and museums are dealing with technological and copyright issues as they try and preserve video games as cultural history (The Age 06/03/08)

Publishers Phase Out Piracy Protection on Audio Books - Publishers, such as Random House & Penguin, are planning to phase out digital rights management copying locks on audio books, which will allow customers to transfer an audio book that they have purchased to their iPod, mp3 player or other digital device. (New York Times 03/03/08)

Most British filesharers would stop if warned - survey - Looks at a recent survey on British filesharers attitudes to downloading music illegally via p2p filesharing in light the proposed "Three strikes" legislation. Under this legislation, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) would be required to monitor illegal downloads on their networks and disconnect users who continue to infringe copyright after 3 warnings. Similar legislation is also being suggested for Australia - see War on music piracy (The Age 17/02/08) and this blog on LawFont.com (The Register, 05/03/08)

Scots want to copyright the kilt - The Scots are trying to copyright the kilt (News.com 29/02/08)

Why digital radio is doomed - Changing nature of how we access and listen to music, and the impact of mp3 downloads & podcasts means that music lovers may not embrace digital radio when it is launched. (The Age 27/02/08)

'Pirate brothers' fined $9000 - 2 Australian brothers have been found guilty of copyright infringement and fined $9000. (News.com, 27/02/08)

“The Fanatics” Songbook is not fair dealing for the purposes of parody or satire - This blog from LawFont.com considers a recent copyright example in light of the new fair dealing exception for parody or satire.

The future is here but is the music industry in it? - Falling CD sales and increased downloads - both legal & illegal - means that the music industry must rethink its business model (The Age 12/02/08)

Do-it-yourself creativity - Like the music industry, the television industry is facing the challenge of holding on to it's viewers in the face of alternatives such as user generated content (YouTube), legal & illegal downloads, and increasing DVD sales. (The Age 11/02/08)

Virtual worlds generate real litigation - Online virtual worlds, such as Second Life, are the subject of copyright and intellectual property lawsuits (Law Times 11/02/08)

A Tight Grip Can Choke Creativity - An update on the court case over the Harry Potter encyclopedia (New York Times 09/02/08)

Cultural Copyright - Discusses the issue of copyright as it relates to appropriate of existing music styles in a new style (The Age 01/02/08)

Copyright law should distinguish between commercial and cultural uses - Article by Cory Doctorow (The Guardian 29/01/08)

95% of music downloads are illegal - New statistics indicate that a large amount of music is still being downloaded illegally. On the flip side of the coin, Australian musician Paul Kelly is choosing to make some of his music available for free download, See Aussie rock icon joins freebie ranks (The Age 25/01/08)

Could laneway graffiti be worth more than your average house? - Graffiti is protected by copyright as an artistic work. This article looks at some of the issues of protecting value graffiti - made especially difficult when it may not be possible to identify the artist. (The Age 16/01/08)

Talk to the hand if you want to use Hewitt's gesture - Lleyton Hewitt has trademarked his infamous "talking to a sock puppet" hand gesture. (The Sydney Morning Herald 12/01/08)

Can Egypt Copyright the Pyramids? - Egypt is considering legislation to make it illegal to produce exact replicas or sell images of the Pyramids and other recognizable antiquities in the country. (National Geographic News 15/01/08)

J.K. Rowling's Dark Mark - This blog by Tim Wu looks at the copyright issues involved in the lawsuit about the Harry Potter Lexicon. It also discusses the copyright & intellectual property issues relating to fan guides. (Slate.com 10/01/08)

Romance Blog Suggests Romance Writer’s Plagiarism; Signet Says It’s Fair Use - Romance author, Cassie Edwards, has been accused of plagiarism for allegedly including extracts of other books in her own books without acknowledging or attributing the extracts. (Publishers Weekly 09/10/08). See also Signet Changes Stance on Cassie Edwards Plagiarism Allegations (Publishers Weekly 14/01/08).

Music copyright in the spotlight - The International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) was a collaborative website that made 1000s of public domain music score for download. The website was closed down due to a copyright dispute between music publishers in Austria, Universal Editions and the website. The scores are in the public domain in Canada, where the site was created, as copyright last 50 years after the death of composer. However, in other countries, including Australia, copyright last 70 years and therefore some of the scores may still be in copyright. This article by Michael Geist examines the case and some of the issues. (BBC News)

Seinfelds sued over cookbook - Jessica Seinfield is being sued over allegations she has plagiarised another cookbook in creating her cookbook, Deceptively Delicious. (The Age 08/01/08). See also A Closer Look at the Seinfeld Food Fight from the New York Times that examines the copyright and intellectual property issues in more detail.

Power of Facebook affects law - Facebook, like Google, is now attempting to influence legislation such as copyright. Article from Michael Geist. (BBC News 18/12/07)

Talking to the world - Podcasting from radio broadcasts has been on the raise in Australia in 2007. (The Age 20/12/07). Podcasts of radio broadcasts can be reproduced for educational purposes under the Part VA licence. For more information see Using Podcasts for Educational Purposes

Warning -- This Product Contains DRM - Looks at whether or not producers of products with DRM (digital locks) should be required to provide information to consumers on what they can or cannot do with the material (InfoWorld.com 18/12/07)

 

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