VALA2010 Session 8 Hudson

VALA20120Fair use, fair dealing and Section 200AB: what overseas experience teaches us about Australian copyright law

VALA 2010 CONCURRENT SESSION 8 – Intellectual Property
Wednesday 10 February 2010 13:45 – 14:15
Persistent URL: http://www.vala.org.au/vala2010-proceedings/vala2010-session-8-hudson

VALA Peer Reviewed PaperEmily Hudson

Lecturer, TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland
http://law.uq.edu.au

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Abstract

In December 2009, the Australian Copyright Act was amended to introduce a new exception for cultural institutions: Section 200AB. This Section adopts a far more open-ended drafting style than the existing libraries and archives provisions, and was introduced with the intention of capturing some of the benefits of a flexible exception. However, the operation of Section 200AB has been a matter of debate, because of uncertainties in its application. The aim of this paper is to explore how Section 200AB can become a meaningful part of copyright management. The paper includes discussions of fieldwork with US institutions about fair-use practice, which may provide guidance to Australian counterparts.