Balancing Copyright - A Survey of National Approaches, Chapter: Australia

Abstract

The balance to be achieved in copyright law traditionally can be described as follows: Whose liberties should be given priority? Those of creators or those of the rest of society? In other words, how is the balance to be achieved between the interests of copyright holders and those of the users of works? The reality principle actually dictates a broadening of the circle of players, so as to refine the naming of stakeholders: creators and artistic performers, investors and professional users (employers, publishers and producers, distributors), end-users, creative and amateur users, etc. Nevertheless, one has to bear in mind firstly that every creator, by creating, uses what he has learnt and experimented with thanks to works of former creators; secondly that copyright policies actually have to enhance scientific progress and the spreading of culture.

Note: This Chapter is part of a larger research project conducted by Professor Reto Hilty and Dr Sylvie Nerisson at Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and Competition Law.

Keywords: Copyright, Australia, User rights