Of Copyright Bureaucracies and Incoherence: Stepping Back from Australia's Recent Copyright Reforms

50 Pages Posted: 7 Feb 2008

Abstract

Australian copyright law has recently undergone a period of intense reform. In this article, the author seeks to give both a comprehensive history of the period just past, and a bird's-eye view of the resulting reforms - highlighting the hitherto unremarked way in which they affected the many institutions which manage copyright. In short, recent copyright reforms have a peculiarly 'bureaucratic' bent. In many areas the government created detailed rules capable of objective application - rules ideally tailored, perhaps, to the many organisations that participated in the development of copyright policy over the period. In addition, the new copyright laws almost across the board reserve significant policy-making discretion to the executive: from the Attorney-General to agencies such as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Australian Communications and Media Authority. Whether or not this bureaucratic tendency in copyright marks a shift in focus, or simply a continuation of past trends, it certainly warrants closer attention.

Keywords: copyright law, Australia, copyright reform, anti-circumvention law, criminal law, copyright exceptions

JEL Classification: O34

Suggested Citation

Weatherall, Kimberlee Gai, Of Copyright Bureaucracies and Incoherence: Stepping Back from Australia's Recent Copyright Reforms. Melbourne University Law Review, Vol. 31, No. 2, 2007, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1091076

Kimberlee Gai Weatherall (Contact Author)

The University of Sydney - Faculty of Law ( email )

New Law Building, F10
The University of Sydney
Sydney, NSW 2006
Australia

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