Objectives:
This course will examine copyright law from a policy perspective, ranging from current debates over simplification of copyright law and the scope of the public domain to the protection of emerging digital technologies and new forms of cultural production. It is expected that students will have on completion of the course:

• An understanding of the rationales of copyright law;
• A knowledge of current international copyright laws;
• An appreciation of the principles and rules of copyright law in Australia, and the forms of rights management that are used;
• A recognition of the problems which are developing in relation to particular technologies and fields of industry; and
• A critical approach to evaluating the economic and social impact of policy reforms regarding copyright law.

Content:
This course will consider policy developments relating to copyright law and related rights. Principal topics include:

• The evolution and theory of copyright law
• The international copyright law conventions
• Categorisation of subject matter, exclusive rights and duration
• The simplification of the copyright act
• Infringement of copyright law
• Fair Use and other exceptions to infringement
• Ownership, licensing and assignment
• Rights management, including the operation of collecting societies
• Parallel importation, and competition law
• Databases, multimedia and computer programs
• The Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Act 2000 (Cth)
• Contracting out and technological protection measures
• Moral rights and Performer's rights
• Indigenous cultural property
• The interaction between copyright law and other fields of intellectual property such as designs law

Students must rely on the Approved Assessment which will be posted to the course homepage on the ANU Law website, prior to the commencement of the course.

26 Contact Hours (Intensive Delivery)

Introduction to Legal Reasoning and Research (non-lawyers); Principles of Intellectual Property.