Border disputes over copyright

MEDIA RELEASE

19 September 2012
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Border disputes over copyright

The boundary between private property and the public domain is especially contentious in the area of copyright law, according to Victoria Law Professor Graeme Austin.

Professor Austin, Chair in Private Law, will discuss the contribution that lawyers can make in better defining the boundary between private property and the public domain during his inaugural professorial lecture at Victoria University on Tuesday 25 September.

An international expert in intellectual property, Professor Austin will argue that public domain isn’t necessarily the opposite of copyright and that striking a balance is critical to downstream creativity and technological innovation.

“The relationship between copyright and the public domain is frequently misunderstood,” says Professor Austin. “It's often thought that copyright protection shrinks the public domain, but my lecture will explore the idea that the relationship between the two is much more subtle and that innovation on the copyright side of the border can actually increase the scope of public domain.

“Enhancing our understanding of the boundary between copyright and the public domain might also take the heat out of current debates about the proper scope of copyright law.”

Professor Austin rejoined the law faculty of Victoria University in 2010 taking up the newly-created Chair in Private Law, after serving for 10 years as a tenured professor at the University of Arizona.

His scholarly expertise is sought both nationally and internationally, and he is regularly invited to speak on legal issues in a wide variety of public and private sector settings, including at the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva.

He has also published widely on intellectual property, including a recent co-authored book on Human Rights and Intellectual Property and his scholarship has twice been cited with approval by the United States Supreme Court.

Professor Austin is an elected member of the American Law Institute and serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of the Copyright Society of the USA and the Australian Media and Arts Law Review. He was also recently appointed to the New Zealand Copyright Tribunal.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Pat Walsh says Victoria’s inaugural lecture series is an excellent opportunity for professors to share insights into their specialist areas of study with family, friends, colleagues and the local community.

“Inaugural lectures are also an excellent opportunity for the University to celebrate and acknowledge our valued professors,” says Professor Walsh.

Inaugural lecture—Professor Graeme Austin
Property on the Line: Life on the Frontier between Copyright and the Public Domain
Tuesday 25 September 2012, 6pm
Hunter Council Chamber, Level 2, Hunter Building
Victoria University, Kelburn Parade, Wellington

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