The Law Handbook 2024

Chapter 7.6: Copyright 755 normally the film company or the producer. A film director (or the director’s employer) is also an owner of the right to include the film in a re-transmission of a free-to-air broadcast (but not other copyright rights) provided that the film was not commissioned by another person (ss 98). Broadcasts Copyright is owned by the broadcaster (e.g. the ABC) or the person holding a licence under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (Cth) (s 99). Published editions The publisher of an edition of a literary, artistic, dramatic or musical work owns the copyright in the published edition (s 100). The Crown Under sections 176–178 of the Copyright Act, the Commonwealth and the Australian states own the copyright in works made or first published by, and sound recordings and films made by, or under the direction or control of, the Commonwealth or state. This means that copyright in works prepared by independent contractors for the Crown is owned by the Crown, although it would not if the work were done for a non-government body. Joint ownership Where two or more authors collaborate on a work, and the contribution of each author is not separate from that of the others, they are joint authors, and joint owners of copyright in the work (s 78). This means neither can exercise any of the rights of the owner (such as publishing the work) without the consent of the other. However, one owner can sue for copyright infringement without the participation of the other owner. Where the contributions of the authors are separate (e.g. in a book where different chapters are written by different people) the copyright in each individual contribution is owned by its author. Ownership of different types of copyright Where there is more than one type of copyright in material, each type may have a different owner. For example, in a published song, the person who wrote the words owns copyright in them, the person who wrote the music owns copyright in it, and the publisher owns the edition copyright. Copyright in the sound recording is owned by the record company, unless it was made for payment on behalf of another person. The owner of the radio station owns copyright in the sound broadcast of the recorded song. Do I need to register my ownership of copyright? There is no system for registering copyright in Australia, although copyright registration exists in some countries (e.g. the United States and China). Ownership of copyright is automatic on the creation of the copyright material. However, it is a good idea to include a copyright notice in the copyright material. A copyright notice should set out the owner’s name, and the year and place of creation/first publication (e.g. ‘© Fitzroy Legal Service Inc. Melbourne 2021’). Such a copyright notice will require anyone who copies your work to prove that the facts stated in the copyright notice are not true (ss 126A, 126B Copyright Act). Assignment of copyright Copyright can be transferred from the initial owner to another person. Assignment of copyright must be in writing and signed by the person assigning the copyright. It is possible to assign the copyright in a work the author has not yet created (e.g. when an artist is commissioned to make a particular work). When copyright material is created, ownership of the copyright automatically transfers to the person acquiring the copyright (s 197 Copyright Act). Duration of copyright Recent changes to the duration of copyright Changes to the duration of certain types of copyright have been made by the Copyright Amendment (Disability Access and Other Measures) Act 2017 (Cth) that took effect on 1 January 2019. The main change is to abolish perpetual copyright in unpublished materials, so as to enable the use of such materials held in libraries and archives.