Where can I find some information about copyright laws in Australia?

Question

I don't want to read through a huge document though, I just want simple, clear and accurate information. Specifically, I'd like to know about when music falls out of copyright and becomes public domain - is it 50 years like the UK?

Answer 1

www.copyright.org.au


try that


chris r

Answer 2

Generally the laws of the home country of the author control the observance of rights in all countries that are members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) which includes Australia. Berne countries all observe life of the author plus 50 years, EU countries and the USA observe plus 70 years. If a song was composed in Australia, you can be sure it will be protected for the life of the author plus 50 years and possibly longer as it is likely that Austrailia will extend protection to match its EU counterparts. That is the simple version, but there are more exceptions than you can shake a stick at, every song should be researched on its own merits before it can be assumed to be in public domain.

Answer 3

The Arts Law Centre have a lot of useful free easy to read publications on their site for artists and musicians and plenty of info on the copyright laws (which are often changing).
www.artslaw.com.au
They can advise for free over the phone too.

Answer 4

frequently, as quickly as some thing passes into the generic public area, it can't subsequently be removed from the generic public area. There are VERY uncommon exceptions, whilst there is compelling data that the preliminary get entry to into the generic public area grew to become into misguided.