New Copyright Law Is 'not Enough'
The Age
Tuesday August 11, 1998
COPYRIGHT on the Internet still depends on people respecting others' rights, but that shouldn't stop publishers from using technical protections if they have to, according to a from RMIT.
John Lambrick told a US conference on intellectual property that even new laws about to be passed to protect online content were not enough.
Lambrick, the manager of legal services at RMIT, was addressing the third LawAsia Intellectual Property Conference in San Francisco.
He told the audience of lawyers, academics and practitioners that the Internet and multimedia threw up new copyright problems. Under new treaties set up by the World Intellectual Property Organisation, soon to be made law in Australia and the US, online content will be explicitly protected.
Until now, the wording of Australian copyright law has made it doubtful whether electronically transmitted material is subject to copyright.
Online issues include the question of the right to produce "ephemeral copies" of works in transit, the ease with which works can be manipulated, reproduced and transmitted, and the problems of ownership when sites are linked.
Lambrick is working on a manual for correct practice at RMIT for multimedia and online issues. Multimedia producers should be especially careful, he said, because of the way they brought together material - music, sound, images, words - from a variety of sources.
Failing to get permission for even one small element of a multimedia work could render the whole thing illegal to use.
He said that, in Australia, the multi-media industry was being hindered by difficulties in getting permission and even in identifying who held copyright over material.
© 1998 The Age