International Agreements
Extract from Wikipedia:While no creative work is automatically protected worldwide, there are international treaties which provide protection automatically for all creative works as soon as they are fixed in a medium. There are two primary international copyright agreements, the Buenos Aires Convention and the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.
WIPO treaties
WIPO is the global forum for intellectual property services, policy, information and cooperation. For more details, visit the website:http://www.wipo.int/portal/en/
Berne Convention
Extract from Wikipedia:The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (also referred to as just the Berne Convention) requires protection for all creative works in a fixed medium be automatic, and last for at least 50 years after the author's death for any work except for photographic and cinematographic works. Photographic works are tied to a minimum of 25 years. Cinematographic works are protected for 50 years after first showing, or 50 years after creation if it hasn't been shown within 50 years after the creation. The Berne Convention also allows for the rule of the shorter term, stating that "unless the legislation of that country otherwise provides, the term shall not exceed the term fixed in the country of origin of the work". Not all countries have applied this rule however.
List of contracting countries http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ShowResults.jsp?treaty_id=15
Full details of Berne Convention available here:
http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/text.jsp?file_id=283698
WIPO Copyright Treaty
The WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) is a special agreement under the Berne Convention that deals with the protection of works and the rights of their authors in the digital environment.
Full details available here:
http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/text.jsp?file_id=295166
AUSFTA
From Wikipedia:The Australia – United States Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA) is a preferential trade agreement between Australia and the United States modelled on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The AUSFTA was signed on 18 May 2004 and came into effect on 1 January 2005.
Intellectual Property is one of the provisions included in the agreement.
Extracts From Wikipedia:
Australia agreed to extend its copyright expiration period from 50 to 70 years after the author's death where copyright is calculated on the basis of the life of a natural person, and 70 years after the first performance or publication in other cases.
The agreement expands the rights of patent holders.
The agreement requires legal enforcement of digital rights management systems, however an Australian legislative committee has issued a report stating that this portion of the treaty has a "significant flaw": while the agreement provides permitted exceptions allowing the use of copyright access circumvention devices, it also disallows access to the tools used for such circumvention. The report goes on to term it a "lamentable and inexcusable flaw", an "egregious flaw", and even a "flaw that verges on absurdity". The committee expressed the strong view that the Government must find a solution to the flaw before implementing this portion of the treaty.
The provisions of the AUSFTA in Ch 17 required Australia to offer stronger protection to American intellectual property. In particular, the minimum term of copyright was extended to 70 years after the author's death. Most economists and others interested in intellectual property issues regarded this as undesirable. A number of prominent American economists took the same view in the case of Eldred v. Ashcroft.
Other key changes included:
- special copyright term extension for photographs
- broader definition of technological protection measures, narrow exceptions, and review process
- protection of temporary copies
- stronger protection of electronic rights management information
- protection of pay television broadcasts
- safe harbour provisions for Internet Service Providers
- protection of performers' economic and moral rights in respect of sound recordings
- broader civil and criminal offences
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia%E2%80%93United_States_Free_Trade_Agreement
More Readings
http://www.apec.org.au/docs/fta04fox.pdf
Marrakesh VIP Treaty
Not because I love Wikipedia, but because it is usually easier to understand than some of the other websites:
Wikipedia Extract:
The Marrakesh VIP Treaty, formally the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons with Print Disabilities, is a treaty signed in Marrakesh, Morocco, on 28 June 2013.
The treaty focuses on copyright exceptions to facilitate the creation of accessible versions of books and other copyrighted works. It sets a norm for countries ratifying the treaty to have a domestic copyright exception covering these activities, and allowing for the import and export of such materials. The full text of the treaty is available on the WIPO website. (Treaty not enforced yet)
Fifty-one countries signed the treaty as of the close of the diplomatic conference in Marrakesh. The ratification of 20 states is needed for the treaty to go into effect.
Details (Summary) of Treaty http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/marrakesh/summary_marrakesh.html
Countries that are party to the Treaty http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ShowResults.jsp?treaty_id=843
Moral Rights
What are Moral Rights? Are they different from Copyright Protection?
Moral Rights Fact Sheet from Copyright.org.au
Moral Rights Information from Copyright.com.au
YouTube and Copyright
Have you wondered why you can go on to YouTube and watch/listen to lots of different Copyrighted material? Can you upload videos onto YouTube that contain Copyrighted material belonging to another person?Here is the scoop on Copyright and YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/yt/copyright/
http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/08/youtube-now-tells-you-how-copyrighted-music-will-affect-your-video-before-you-upload-it/
Infringement
Read the Fact Sheet: Infringement - What can I do?Read the Fact Sheet: Infringement - Actions, Remedies, Offences & Penalties
Final Class Activity
Find some recent cases that have been to court
What was the case? What was the penalty? Do you consider the penalty to be fair?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1292374/Men-Work-pay-5-royalties-80s-Down-Under-hit-copying-riff.html
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-02-04/men-at-work-plundered-kookaburra-riff-court/321624
************************* END ************************
