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Pirates Of The Australian Election, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

“Pirate parties” have proliferated across Europe and North America in the past decade, championing issues such as intellectual property (IP), freedom of speech, and the protection of privacy and anonymity.This year, the movement hit Australian shores: The Pirate Party Australia was officially registered by the Australian Electoral Commission in January 2013. (You can read its principles and platform here.)“More than ever before, there is a necessity in Australia for a party that holds empowerment, participation, free culture and openness as its central tenets”, Pirate Party founder Rodney Serkowski said in a press release announcing the group’s successful registration. Their first …

An Elegy For Greg Ham: Copyright Law, The Kookaburra Case, And Remix Culture, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

The ‘Kookaburra’ case was a tragic and controversial copyright dispute, highlighting the need for copyright law reform by the Australian Parliament. In the Kookaburra case, a copyright action was brought by Larrikin Records against Men at Work’s song ‘Down Under’, alleging copyright infringement of the ‘Kookaburra’ song composed by Marion Sinclair. The dispute raised a host of doctrinal matters. There was disquiet over the length of the copyright term. There were fierce contests as to the copyright ownership of the ‘Kookaburra’ song. The litigation raised questions about copyright infringement and substantiality – particularly in relation to musical works. The ‘Kookaburra’ …

A Submission To The Australian Law Reform Commission On Copyright And The Digital Economy: Remix Culture, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

RECOMMENDATIONSIn its issues paper, the Australian Law Reform Commission asks a number of inter-connected questions about transformative use, fair dealing, and fair use:Transformative useQuestion 14. How are copyright materials being used in transformative and collaborative ways—for example, in ‘sampling’, ‘remixes’ and ‘mashups’. For what purposes—for example, commercial purposes, in creating cultural works or as individual self-expression?Question 15. Should the use of copyright materials in transformative uses be more freely permitted? Should the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) be amended to provide that transformative use does not constitute an infringement of copyright? If so, how should such an exception be framed?Question 16. …

A Submission To The Australian Law Reform Commission On Copyright And The Digital Economy: 3d Printing, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

RECOMMENDATIONSThe Australian Law Reform Commission poses a number of questions on the defence of fair use in Copyright and the Digital Economy.Question 52. Should the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) be amended to include a broad, flexible exception? If so, how should this exception be framed? For example, should such an exception be based on ‘fairness’, ‘reasonableness’ or something else? Question 53. Should such a new exception replace all or some existing exceptions or should it be in addition to existing exceptions?The case study of 3D printing highlights how Australia would benefit from a defence of fair use.Recommendation 1 The narrow, …

A Submission To The Australian Law Reform Commission On Copyright And The Digital Economy: Disability Rights, Matthew Rimmer Dr

Matthew Rimmer

RECOMMENDATIONS

Recommendation 1 The Australian Government should take legislative action to implement Article 30 (3) of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2006, which provides that ‘States Parties shall take all appropriate steps, in accordance with international law, to ensure that laws protecting intellectual property rights do not constitute an unreasonable or discriminatory barrier to access by persons with disabilities to cultural materials’. This will involve revising the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) – and addressing any direct or indirect disability discrimination.

Recommendation 2 The Australian Law Reform Commission should consider revising the Copyright Act 1968 …

A Submission To The Australian Law Reform Commission On Copyright And The Digital Economy: International Law, Matthew Rimmer Dr

Matthew Rimmer

The Australian Law Reform Commission poses a question in respect of international law in the issues paper on Copyright and the Digital Economy.Question 1. The ALRC is interested in evidence of how Australia’s copyright law is affecting participation in the digital economy. For example, is there evidence about how copyright law: a. affects the ability of creators to earn a living, including through access to new revenue streams and new digital goods and services; b. affects the introduction of new or innovative business models; c. imposes unnecessary costs or inefficiencies on creators or those wanting to access or make use …

A Submission To The Australian Law Reform Commission On Copyright And The Digital Economy: Consumer Rights, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

RECOMMENDATIONSThe Australian Law Reform Commission poses a number of inter-related questions about copyright law, personal use, consumer rights, and cloud computing:Cloud computingQuestion 5. Is Australian copyright law impeding the development or delivery of cloud computing services?Question 6. Should exceptions in the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) be amended, or new exceptions created, to account for new cloud computing services, and if so, how?Copying for private useQuestion 7. Should the copying of legally acquired copyright material, including broadcast material, for private and domestic use be more freely permitted?Question 8. The format shifting exceptions in the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) allow users to …

A Submission To The Australian Law Reform Commission On Copyright And The Digital Economy: Moral Rights, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

RECOMMENDATIONSThe Australian Law Reform Commission poses a question in respect of moral rights in the issues paper on Copyright and the Digital Economy.Question 18. The Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) provides authors with three ‘moral rights’: a right of attribution; a right against false attribution; and a right of integrity. What amendments to provisions of the Act dealing with moral rights may be desirable to respond to new exceptions allowing transformative or collaborative uses of copyright material?In response, I would emphasize a number of themes in respect of moral rights.Recommendation 1 There is a need for the Australian Law Reform Commission …

A Submission To The Australian Law Reform Commission On Copyright And The Digital Economy: The Copyright Term And Orphan Works, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

RECOMMENDATIONSThe Australian Law Reform Commission asks a number of questions in respect of copyright law and orphan works:Question 23. How does the legal treatment of orphan works affect the use, access to and dissemination of copyright works in Australia?Question 24. Should the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) be amended to create a new exception or collective licensing scheme for use of orphan works? How should such an exception or collective licensing scheme be framed?In response, I would make the following recommendations on copyright term and copyright duration; old copyright works; orphan works; and copyfraud:Recommendation 1 The Australian Government should withdraw from …

A Submission To The Australian Law Reform Commission On Copyright And The Digital Economy: The Progress Of Science, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

RECOMMENDATIONSThe Australian Law Reform Commission poses a number of questions about copyright law and databases in its issues paper on Copyright and the Digital Economy:Data and text miningQuestion 25. Are uses of data and text mining tools being impeded by the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth)? What evidence, if any, is there of the value of data mining to the digital economy?Question 26. Should the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) be amended to provide for an exception for the use of copyright material for text, data mining and other analytical software? If so, how should this exception be framed?Question 27. Are there …

It Pricing: Copyright Law, Consumer Rights, And Competition Policy. A Submission To The House Of Representatives Standing Committee On Infrastructure And Communications Inquiry Into It Pricing, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

Justice Lionel Murphy‘Copyright is being used to manipulate the Australian market.’Justice Michael Kirby‘In effect, and apparently intentionally, those [technological] restrictions reduce global market competition. They inhibit rights ordinarily acquired by Australian owners of chattels to use and adapt the same, once acquired, to their advantage and for their use as they see fit.’US Attorney-General Eric Holder‘As a result of this alleged conspiracy, we believe that consumers paid millions of dollars more for some of the most popular titles.’Justice Denise Coates‘There can be no denying the importance of books and authors in the quest for human knowledge and creative expression, and …

This Sporting Life: Copyright Law And Consumer Rights, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

When too much sport is not enoughH.G. Nelson and Roy SlavenSport occupies an anomalous position under Australian copyright law. A footballer like Gary Ablett Junior is not an author under copyright law. A sporting spectacle like the AFL Grand Final or the State of Origin is not a dramatic work. Sporting events are protected somewhat peripherally as television broadcasts under Australian copyright law. Nonetheless, sports organizations have engaged in special pleading in respect of intellectual property law. This has been particularly evident in the litigation between Optus, the National Rugby League, and the Australian Football League.

A Fair Use Project For Australia: Copyright Law And Creative Freedom, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

This essay provides a critical assessment of the Fair Use Project based at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society. In evaluating the efficacy of the Fair Use Project, it is worthwhile considering the litigation that the group has been involved in, and evaluating its performance. Part 1 outlines the history of the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, and the aims and objectives of the Fair Use Project. Part 2 considers the litigation in Shloss v. Sweeney over a biography concerning Lucia Joyce, the daughter of the avant-garde literary great, James Joyce. Part 3 examines the dispute over the …

Media Futures: A Review Essay On 'The Future Of Reputation', 'Tv Futures', And 'The Future Of The Internet And How To Stop It', Prometheus, Vol. 27 (3), P. 267-279., Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

This review essay considers three recent books, which have explored the legal dimensions of new media. In contrast to the unbridled exuberance of Time Magazine, this series of legal works displays an anxious trepidation about the legal ramifications associated with the rise of social networking services. In his tour de force, The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet, Daniel Solove considers the implications of social networking services, such as Facebook and YouTube, for the legal protection of reputation under privacy law and defamation law. Andrew Kenyon’s edited collection, TV Futures: Digital Television Policy in Australia, explores …

Wikipedia, Collective Authorship, And The Politics Of Knowledge, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

This chapter considers the legal ramifications of Wikipedia, and other online media, such as the Encyclopedia of Life. Nathaniel Tkacz (2007) has observed: 'Wikipedia is an ideal entry-point from which to approach the shifting character of knowledge in contemporary society.' He observes: 'Scholarship on Wikipedia from computer science, history, philosophy, pedagogy and media studies has moved beyond speculation regarding its considerable potential, to the task of interpreting - and potentially intervening in - the significance of Wikipedia's impact' (Tkacz 2007). After an introduction, Part II considers the evolution and development of Wikipedia, and the legal troubles that have attended it. …

'Moral Rights And Their Application To Australia: A Book Review' (2004) 32 (2) The Federal Law Review 331-336, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

In Moral Rights and Their Application in Australia, Maree Sainsbury offers a summary of the new moral rights regime established in Australia in 2000. It is a decent guide and handbook to moral rights for legal practitioners, the authors of copyright work, and the users of copyright material. As the author notes:

"The Australian moral rights legislation impacts on the rights and obligations of many people in diverse circumstances, from the creator of a highly unique work of art to the designer of a web site incorporating factual information or graphics which someone else has created. Any person creating or …

'Information Feudalism: Who Owns The Knowledge Economy. A Book Review' (2003) 21 (1) Prometheus 127-132, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

Back in 1995, Peter Drahos wrote a futuristic article called ‘Information feudalism in the information society’. It took the form of an imagined history of the information society in the year 2015. Drahos provided a pessimistic vision of the future, in which the information age was ruled by the private owners of intellectual property. He ended with the bleak, Hobbesian image:"It is unimaginable that the information society of the 21st century could be like this. And yet if abstract objects fall out of the intellectual commons and are enclosed by private owners, private, arbitrary, unchecked global power will become a …