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At a time when there’s a little flurry about the application for a trade mark for ‘MADE IN AUSTRALIA’, it’s interesting to see this little Parliamentary Library Research Note on the significance of Country of Origin labelling. As you might expect, it shows there is little research, but what there is suggests that country of origin does matter to Australians: (more…)

Submissions are starting to find their way onto the website of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee website. That committee is doing an inquiry into the exceptions that should be provided to the new anti-circumvention laws which must be enacted in Australia as a result of the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement.

In its submission in the fair use/fair dealing inquiry, The Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) found history, harking back to the invention of the wheel, which it appears CAL did not realise was a recent Australian invention, which received an Innovation Patent.

Now it’s serious. CAL have found religion: (more…)

You might recall that on 5 September of this year, Justice Wilcox handed down judgment in Universal Music Australia Pty Ltd v Sharman License Holdings Ltd, colloquially known as the Kazaa case. It’s all about whether Sharman and others authorised infringement of copyright occurring over the Kazaa network. Wilcox J held that they did. I commented on the case at the time.

Were you wondering what had happened in the case? Whether it was on appeal? What was being done about the orders, at the time, requiring Sharman to make adjustments to their technology with a view to reducing the level of infringement occurring via the Kazaa network?

Well, thanks to the wonders of the Federal Court’s eCourt facilities, we can find out. (more…)

So they launch a video iPod. And The Australian headline notes, ‘Nothing on new iPod’. Warwick Rothnie talks about it here.

Rather, the headline should probably be, ‘Nothing new on iPod’. According to news reports, the device will play video you create yourself. So, my guess would be, it plays unprotected formats.

And we all know what happens when a device plays unprotected formats. Like, say, the iPod does with, say, mp3s. Right? Or am I wrong about this? Is there anything on this iPod which will prevent people playing, say, tv episodes downloaded from P2P networks or elsewhere?

When I commented on Stevens v Sony (here, and then here), I focused on the issue of the meaning of the anti-circumvention provisions. As others have pointed out (here, and Warwick Rothnie here), other matters were raised in the case – in particular, the meaning of reproduction in material form, or ‘copy’. William Patry has some interesting views on the issue today.
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One issue that is knocking around in Australia at the moment is the scope of the concept of ‘patentable subject matter’. In particular, there has been a debate – and differences between the Patent Office and at least parts of the profession over whether, to be patentable, a claimed invention has to relate to a ‘field of technology’.

The issue is whether ‘pure’ business methods – business methods which are not ‘implemented’ in the form of some kind of technology (like computer software/hardware) can be patented – or whether they aren’t really inventions in a ‘field of technology’. The issue has been raised in a new US decision of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences. (more…)

APC Magazine has a very interesting ‘feature’ today on MIPI, the friendly-sounding but definitely serious enforcement arm of the Australian Record Industry (doesn’t it just make you think it’s the name of a Muppet figure from Sesame Street? Hi, I’m Mippy. Who wants to play a spelling game with me? Can you spell P-I-R-A-C-Y?)

Anyway, name jokes aside, this is a serious report. It deals with the identity of MIPI, copyright enforcement strategy in Australia and likely shifts in that strategy (will we have more criminal enforcement?), and the settlement of the Australian BitTorrent case. (more…)

Larry Lessig has many examples of ‘remix culture’ in his book, Free Culture. Examples of images or other existing works taken out of context and then used to make a point or make new creative works. I’ve given examples in the past, too, like the post I once did on the Tarnation film. The point that Lessig (and others) have made about ‘Remix Culture’ is the fairly simple old adage: creativity often builds on the past.

I reckon this new Unicef ad campaign against child soldiers in Belgium is a pretty good example. (more…)

The US Copyright Office has announced the start of the next rule-making on exceptions to the ban on circumventing access control measures under the US DMCA. Submissions from the public are now being sought, with hearings scheduled for April 2006.

This is relevant to us here in Australia, as the House of Representatives Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee is currently holding an inquiry on the appropriate exceptions under the currently-being-drafted Australian version of the DMCA, which we must enact as a result of the US-Australia FTA (for my previous comments on this, see Weatherall’s Law, on the sidebar, or click here and here).

Might I point out the process adopted by the US to prepare submissions on this issue? 2 months for initial comments, with a period set aside for reply comments. Overall, the US process looks decidedly less rushed than what the Australian government appears to be doing.

You can find here, in this special edition of First Monday. Cool!

Bit of a round up around the place on the Stevens v Sony ruling by our High Court, which I’ve commented on already: (more…)

Apparently special leave was refused by the High Court in The Panel case this morning. I assume the issue on which special leave was sought was the concept of ‘substantial part’ as interpreted in the recent Full Federal Court decision. (yes, I know – it’s already been to the High Court once. On the meaning of ‘broadcast’. But then the Full Federal Court gave a judgment on what constitutes a ‘substantial part’ of a broadcast).

So that long copyright saga draws to a close. All together now … sigh.

I’d be relieved, only that it leaves Australian copyright law on the meaning of ‘substantial part’, particularly as it relates to Part IV subject matters, pretty much incomprehensible (hat tip: Michael Handler for passing on this news).

You can find his comments here, on Weatherall’s Law, and here, on Michael Geist’s blog.

In Stevens v Sony, the Australian High Court today offered its first view on Australia’s current legal equivalent to the US DMCA. The encounter is an interesting one.

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Well might they call him ‘uber-copyfighter’. The amazing Michael Geist (and no, I’m not just saying that because I’m currently enjoying his hospitality in Ottawa) has today launched In the Public Interest: The Future of Canadian Copyright Law.

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