When it comes to accessing online learning materials, university students don’t think much about whether their downloads might amount to piracy or copyright infringement.
Scriptwriters claim they are not being treated fairly.
Livia Cristina L.C.
The Australian Writers Guild has launched a legal case against Screenrights, the body charged with collecting royalties on its behalf. What is Screenrights and what does it do?
Will the real Kylie please stand up?
EPA/Diego Azubel and Jimmy Morris; Joel Dimmock
An expert in copyright law explains who is better placed to win the trademark battle over the name “Kylie” – popstar Minogue or reality TV star Jenner.
When should a work go into public doman?
Copyright image via www.shutterstock.com
A copyright law that has frozen the entry of many works into public domain is approaching its end. Will a further extension of its term be detrimental to the common good?
Attorney General George Brandis did not have a clean slate for copyright reform.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Fixing copyright is essential for Malcolm Turnbull’s ‘ideas boom’ to succeed, but you wouldn’t know it given the slow and repetitive approach to copyright reform.
The copyright debate has brought back protesters of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Occupy Movement.
Reuters
Copyright law had to figure out how to deal with digital media. Now 3D printers – and their capacity for infringement – are poised to challenge the patent system in a similar way.
Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club.
Voltage Pictures
The government has agreed to the Harper competition review recommendation on parallel imports on books, but there’s still a long way to go on IP reform.
Any change that affects the web, affect people.
Arthimedes/shutterstock.com
Google has won again in its efforts to create a searchable digital library of books. But many author groups still believe the project infringes their copyright.
Amazon caused a stir when it unilaterally removed George Orwell’s classic novel 1984 from Kindle e-readers in 2009.
Shutterstock
Copyright lasts the life of the author plus 70 years before it enters the public domain. But the author and their family are often not the beneficiary. Perhaps it’s time for shrink that term.
The US may be closer than people think to a deal over geographical indications, laws that protect products based on their location such as Champagne, Darjeeling tea and prosciutto di Parma.
A former employee of Vodacom has taken the cell phone group to South Africa’s highest court. He claims to have invented the popular “Please Call Me” service but never got paid for it.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
Vodacom’s battle with its former employee over the “Please Call Me” service brings home global disputes over intellectual property rights. Do South African laws adequately protect innovators?
Open access is crucial for South Africa and other developing countries.
Shutterstock
South Africa does some amazing research but cannot share it globally because of restrictive copyright laws or unreasonable policies and embargo periods set by publishers that limit their audience.
A pause, not a halt in legal attempts to claim money from people who illegally downloaded the movie Dallas Buyers Club, which starred Jared Leto (left) and Matthew McConaughey (right).
Voltage Pictures
The Federal Court has said no to an attempt to claim potentially thousands of dollars from people who illegally downloaded the movie Dallas Buyers Club. But the downloaders are not in the clear yet.
It’s an abuse of copyright to use it to stifle creativity – even the everyday, unglamorous kinds.
Randi Boice
Nicolas Suzor, Queensland University of Technology; Rachel Choi, Queensland University of Technology, dan Suzannah Wood, Queensland University of Technology
High-stress scenarios, flavoured with competitive chefs, and garnished with a panel of celebrity judges … what could possibly go wrong? The copyright spat between channels Seven and Nine is illustrative.