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[Tom Koltai]

My latest blog article.

Copyright What is Legal and what is not (In Australia) 

I was slammed into reality the other day by the fact that a Solicitor
that I have known for many years who dealt in the area of the law known
as Trademarks and Intellectual Property, got some basic knowledge about
the Australian Copyright Legislation wrong. (No 'P' it's not you and no
'N' it's not you either.)
I don't think he's a bad solicitor, I just don't think the copyright
legislation is very accurate in it's drafting. 

Quite often the law lags behind the reality of technology. Some
examples;

in the 1969 Copyright Act, it was illegal to have a photocopier in your
home 
and for years VCR's were technically illegal in Australia.
and today (proposed), the DVD writer in your home computer actually
allows police to confiscate the computer because you have an "infringing
device" that can create "pirate" copies. (See references below.)

Therefore most Australians are breaking or have broken the law in some
manner.

So today I thought I would have a go at the Australian Copyright FAQ
Version II. Version 1 is on the AG site 

Disclaimer:
I am not a lawyer. This is not legal advice. Readers should hire a
lawyer to interpret my responses before carrying out or relying on any
of the recommendations contained herein.
To be clear, Perhaps I should borrow the words of the Australian
Attorney General's site:
"Therefore, before relying on the material, users should independently
verify its accuracy, completeness, relevance for their purposes and that
it is up-to-date.
Before any action or decision is taken on the basis of any material on
this website the user should obtain appropriate independent professional
advice.
Links to other websites are provided for the user's convenience and do
not constitute endorsement of material at those sites, or any associated
organisation, product or service."

Table and article continues here:
http://www.perceptric.com/blog/_archives/2009/10/11/4347195.html


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