Copyright purposes and sources
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last modified
2008-07-17 14:21
What is copyright law for and where does it come from?
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Where does copyright law come from?
| Australian copyright law comes from the Copyright Act, a
Commonwealth statute, and from court decisions. The Copyright Act came
into operation on 1 May 1969, and has been amended many times since then, most recently
in December 2006. The current Copyright Act replaced an earlier Act, which was based on UK copyright law.
In many cases,
Australian courts have had to decide how the Copyright Act is to be
interpreted and applied. Therefore, working out how copyright applies
in a particular situation can require looking at court decisions as
well as at the Copyright Act. | |
| Why do we have copyright? | The primary purpose of copyright is to provide an incentive
for people to produce new works for the benefit of society as a whole. The
incentive is created by the opportunity to be paid when other people use and
disseminate those works. Copyright can also reward people who create works
without expecting payment, when their works end up being used by others.
The government-appointed committee whose report led to the introduction of
Australia's current Copyright Act said:
The primary end of the law on this subject is to give to
the author of a creative work his just reward for the benefit he has bestowed
on the community and also to encourage the making of further creative works.
In copyright law, the objective of encouraging the creation
of new works is balanced by the objective of making material available for
socially desirable purposes such as research and education. |
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