Contemporary Law Reform Issue : Copyright Reform

As mentioned before, one of the acts relating to technology is the Copyright Amendment Act 2000 (Cth). Authors of creative material have an automatic right not to have this material copied or used by others for profit or for gain. This means that people who make copies of TV programs, movies, songs or articles may be committing a crime. Exemptions apply for fair copying of material used for critical review or educational purposes. In 2006, this Act was amended to also exempt the temporary taping of a TV program to watch later and copying from a legal copy of material to another format (such as turning songs on CD into MP3 format for use in music players. The law also allows people to copy works for parody. Most exemptions apply only to individual use and do not allow the sharing of the material. The law also makes it illegal to access pay TV services without authorisation or to modify any protection measures intended to stop people illegally copying digital media.

The duration of copyright determines the length of protection. Limitations on this length exist to ensure works enter the public domain. Therefore, the length of protection is one of the most relevant and debated issues regarding copyright law. The proponents and opponents of copyright term extension make compelling arguments, but both sides agree that copyright law should encourage creativity and innovation. If Disney is successful in once again lobbying for an extension of duration, a substantial number of works will fail to enter the public domain in a timely manner. This will, consequently, lead to a stifling of creativity and a suppression of innovation that could be detrimental to progress in the realms of science and the useful arts.

Digital economy as a whole has changed a lot throughout history. Digital economy in the aspect

The pervasive nature of the Internet has made the copying of music and software exceptionally easy, fast and for the most part, undetectable. The ubiquity of the Internet and the speed at which music and software can be copied is also changing the sociological and legal aspects of computing as well (De George, 2006). For the first time the availability of technology is driving a level of expertise with computer users globally that give them the opportunity to capture, distribute, duplicate and even re-publish massive amounts of intellectual property that isn't theirs (Wilson, 2007). This is forcing the issue of copyright infringement and the protection of intellectual property at a global scale. In so doing, this dynamics is also re-ordering ethics surrounding all forms of digital content as well.

The Australian Copyright Act 1969 (Cth) is designed to provide exclusive rights to owners and creators of copyright material. These rights include but are not limited to; the right to copy or reproduce, perform, publish, communicate (via email or online), translate or adapt the material. Moral rights are also granted to creators of some types of works. Copyrighted material must not be used in a way that infringes the copyright owners Moral or exclusive rights.

7. As one of Management steering group how you can acknowledge team members of Australian copyright law and how it affects their work?

Copyright is the legal right, to an inventor to perform, print, publish, film, or record artistic, literary, or musical material, and to allow others to do the same. Copyright law was developed to provide the creators and inventors of any works with powerful and effective rights of exclusivity over their creations (Patterson & Lindberg, 1991). Over the past, these rights were almost unlimited. People would use existing developments as if they were their own without any regard of the creator’s exclusive rights. The need to balance and limit such rights arose, and governments established these limits for the general good of the public.

With over three billion people in the world utilizing the internet there is great danger for copyright infringement to occur (Internet Live Stats). Copyright law protects the creator of an original piece of work exclusive rights to the work. Many people who use the internet are sharing files that do not belong to them and are guilty of copyright infringement. Copyright law needs to be tightened up in the digital space to protect the creator of their unique work.

The Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 established that copyright terms now expire 70 years after the creator’s death, which is a 20-year extension from the previous copyright law in 1976 that established term expiration 50 years after the creator’s death. The Act applies equally to future works and works with existing copyrights. The court in Eldred v. Ashcroft upheld the CTEA as a rational exercise of congressional authority in that the copyright extension creates a significant benefit: encouraging copyright authors to produce more creative works. However, the extension has little influence on the motivation of authors to create and it constructs roadblocks in the creation process. Overall, the expected outcome of the 20-year copyright term extension is a reduction in the number of works being created and copyrighted in the future due to the increased costs of production. Without works entering the public domain, the copyright owner monopolizes their work, creating social costs associated with a monopoly market failure. The CTEA should be struck down as it is inconsistent with the ultimate goal of copyright law, which is to promote the

The Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) published a report which showed that movie piracy alone cost the Australian economy $1.37 billion revenue per annum. More than $193 million of this amount is the loss of government tax revenue due to the 92 million tax free pirated movies. Consequently, this greatly reduces the funds available by the Australian taxing government to spend on Australian communities.

This particular article deals mainly with the different copy right laws that have been made throughout all these years and what exactly they do. Within the article the reader can expect to find in-depth details on each copy right law, what it does, and how long it is effective for. The author mentions first that around fifteen years ago it was President Bill Clinton that signed a copyright extension law. The article explains that when America was first founded that copyright protection was only good for approximately twenty eight years. From there the author begins explaining to the reader how copyright laws have advanced since that time. They talk about how in the mid-twentieth century Congress decided to double that period and make it

Recent copyright reforms in New Zealand suggest a shift towards strengthening copyright protection, favoured by copyright holders. For example, a ‘three strikes’ regime acts against internet account holders who either upload or download copyrighted content. Prosecution has

Copyright policies have always been an issue throughout history, with the advancement in technology digital piracy being a fairly new phenomenon has made it necessary to reevaluate and update copyright policies to the 21st century. When comparing the Canadian and US copy right and piracy laws it is evident that although there are similarities and differences, the Canadian approach proves to be effective at protecting the owners of the works in the issue of unauthorized downloading and piracy. It is important to understand what Piracy and copyright laws are, how they effect society and the artists, to better control the copyright policies.

The rise of the Internet era opened the whole new market for traditional media full of opportunities as well as threats. Online piracy being one of them because the music and film industry loses £5.4bn in a year and if it was reduced by 10% it could have created up to 13 thousand jobs in the UK. There are various attempts taken to fight with online piracy; a case study of Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement will be considered as well as other legislations attempting to regulate copyrights in the Internet. This

Copy right laws I can say is one of the most important aspects of every conceived idea any one brings up. We can say a copy right is a legal right created by the law of a country that grants the creator of an original work exclusive rights for its use and distribution. This is usually only for a limited time. The exclusive rights are not absolute but limited by limitations and exceptions to copyright law, including fair use. (Google, n.d).Theses laws are very important because they help ensure that credit is always given to the owner of an information. With all the above said I am in total agreement that it is very important that’s why this paper going to discuss the importance of copy right laws and some other aspects of