Melbourne Law School - Research Publications
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ItemARE CONTRACTS ENOUGH? AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF AUTHOR RIGHTS IN AUSTRALIAN PUBLISHING AGREEMENTS(MELBOURNE UNIV LAW REVIEW ASSOC, 2020-01-01)A majority of the world’s nations grant authors statutory reversion rights: entitlements to reclaim their copyrights in certain circumstances, such as their works becoming unavailable for purchase. In Australia (as in the United Kingdom) we have no such universal protections, leaving creator rights to be governed entirely by their contracts with investors. But is this enough? We investigate that question in the book industry context via an exploratory study of publishing contracts sourced from the archive of the Australian Society of Authors. We identify serious deficiencies in the agreements generally as well as the specific provisions for returning rights to authors. Many contracts were inconsistent or otherwise poorly drafed, key terms were commonly missing altogether, and we demonstrate that critical terms evolved very slowly in response to changed industry realities. In response to this new evidence we propose that consideration be given to introducing baseline minimum protections with the aim of improving author incomes, investment opportunities for publishers and access for the public.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableOptus v NRL: A Seismic Shift for Time Shifting in Australia(Sweet and Maxwell, 2012)In Optus v NRL, Australia’s Federal Court recently held that consumers had broad rights to “time shift” television programs, including via the use of remote recording and storage devices. The applicants were the AFL and the NRL, sporting organisations which had big plans for the monetisation of internet streaming rights, and Telstra, which had already paid some $153m for rights to several seasons of AFL games. This paper provides a detailed overview of the decision and the relevant law, and considers its likely significance for stakeholders including broadcasters, sports operators and other content owners, streaming providers and consumers.
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ItemOn Aereo and 'Avoision'(Copyright Society of Australia, 2014)Avoision describes conduct which seeks to exploit 'the differences between a law's goals and its self-defined limits' - a phenomenon particularly apparent in tax law. This short paper explains how the technology company Aereo utilised avoision strategies in an attempt to design its way out of liability under US copyright law. The authors argue that existing formulations encourage such strategies by applying differently depending on how the transaction is structured, resulting in a wasteful devotion of resources to hyper-technical compliance with the letter rather than meaning and purpose of the law.
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ItemRewinding Sony: An Inducement Theory of Secondary Liability(Sweet and Maxwell, 2005)Discusses the US Supreme Court ruling in Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer Studios Inc v. Grokster Ltd, which preserved the technology protecting rule established by its earlier decision in Sony Corp of America v. Universal City Studios Inc but failed to clarify its application to peer to peer (P2P) technologies. Reviews the operation of the Sony rule on vicarious and contributory liability in copyright cases, its application in subsequent case law, the Grokster judgment's likely impact on the Sony principles and the remaining areas of uncertainty regarding the revised test to be met by P2P companies seeking to escape secondary liability for inducement of copyright infringement. Reflects on the likely effects of the Grokster ruling for future technologies.
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ItemStranded in the Technological Dark Ages: Implications of the Full Federal Court's Decision in NRL v Optus(Sweet and Maxwell, 2012)Australia’s Full Federal Court recently overturned the findings of the trial judge in the Optus v NRL television time-shifting case. Finding that the time-shifting provider (and not just the user) “makes” the relevant recording, the decision effectively renders remote television time-shifting services unlawful in Australia. This paper argues that it also has significant ramifications for more traditional time-shifting technologies, and, if not overturned, might decimate the value of the nascent Australian time-shifting right and strand consumers in a technological dark age.
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ItemProtection of genomic data and the Australian Privacy Act: when are genomic data 'personal information'?(Oxford University Press, 2023-02-01)Key Points • Personal information’, protected under the Australian Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), is ‘about an identified individual or an individual who is reasonably identifiable’ (S.6), so the legal assessment of ‘identifiability’ shapes the protection of genomic data under the Privacy Act. • Not all genomic data are captured by the statutory definitions of ‘genetic information’ in the Privacy Act; however, genomic data that do not fit the definition may still be protected if they are about an identifiable individual. • In applying the legal test of identifiability to genomic data, the interaction between the data and the data environment must be examined. Overemphasis on particular features of genomic data, such as ‘rareness’ or ‘uniqueness’, may lead to a misapplication of the Privacy Act. • Whether genomic data are personal information is primarily a matter of the opportunities and likelihood of linking the genomic data in question with other data available in the data environment.
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ItemAbandoning individual enforcement? Interrogating the enforcement of age discrimination law(CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS, 2023-02-15)Abstract Discrimination law primarily relies on individual enforcement for addressing discrimination at work; yet those who are most impacted by discrimination are likely the least able to enforce their rights. The question then becomes: what role should individual enforcement play in discrimination law? Can we effectively abandon individual enforcement as part of the legislative model? Drawing on a mixed method, multi-year comparative study of the enforcement of age discrimination law in the UK, Australia and Sweden, this paper considers the gaps, limits and risks of the individual enforcement model in discrimination law. Integrating doctrinal analysis; statistical analysis of claims and cases, and data from the EU and OECD; qualitative expert interviews; and a survey of legal practitioners, this paper argues that while individual enforcement is inherently limited as a tool for achieving systemic change, it must remain part of any legislative model. Reflecting on the experience in Sweden, where individual enforcement of discrimination law is significantly curtailed, the paper posits that individual rights and individual enforcement remain important complements to other regulatory tools, particularly in jurisdictions with strong enduring age norms. Abandoning or severely restricting individual enforcement is unlikely to support either the macro or micro effectiveness of age discrimination law.
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ItemInternational law and the making of migration and development in India(Asia Institute, University of Melbourne, )
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ItemNo Preview AvailableLawyers, Confidentiality and Whistleblowing: Lessons from the McCabe Tobacco Litigation(Melbourne University, Law Review Association, 2017)In 2006, Christopher Dale leaked information about Clayton Utz’s internal investigation into the events surrounding the destruction of documents that would have been relevant and damaging to their client, British American Tobacco, in the 2002 McCabe litigation. This article uses this case study to examine whether lawyers can and should act as whistleblowers against colleagues and clients who abuse the administration of justice. We argue that although lawyers must have strong obligations of confidentiality to clients and others, their role as gatekeepers of justice also demands that they be allowed to blow the whistle when they have information about clients or other lawyers using legal services to subvert the administration of justice, and be protected when they do so. The article evaluates the circumstances in which such whistleblowing is appropriate and makes suggestions about how the law should be reformed by reference to three touchstones: the nature of the relationship between the lawyer and the wrongdoer; the nature of the wrongdoing itself; and, the process used to disclose the wrongdoing.
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ItemWho has a beef with reducing red and processed meat consumption? A media framing analysis(CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS, 2022-03-01)OBJECTIVE: Diets high in red and processed meat (RPM) contribute substantially to environmental degradation, greenhouse gas emissions and the global burden of chronic disease. High-profile reports have called for significant global RPM reduction, especially in high-income settings. Despite this, policy attention and political priority for the issue are low. DESIGN: The study used a theoretically guided framing analysis to identify frames used by various interest groups in relation to reducing RPM in online news media articles published in the months around the release of four high-profile reports by authoritative organisations that included a focus on the impacts of high RPM production and/or consumption. SETTING: Four major RPM producing and consuming countries - USA, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. PARTICIPANTS: None. RESULTS: Hundred and fifty news media articles were included. Articles reported the views of academics, policymakers, industry representatives and the article authors themselves. RPM reduction was remarkably polarising. Industry frequently framed RPM reduction as part of a 'Vegan Agenda' or as advocated by an elite minority. Reducing RPM was also depicted as an infringement on personal choice and traditional values. Many interest groups attempted to discredit the reports by citing a lack of consensus on the evidence, or that only certain forms of farming and processing were harmful. Academics and nutrition experts were more likely to be cited in articles that were aligned with the findings of the reports. CONCLUSIONS: The polarisation of RPM reduction has led to a binary conflict between pro- and anti-meat reduction actors. This division may diminish the extent to which political leaders will prioritise this in policy agendas. Using nuanced and context-dependent messaging could ensure the narratives around meat are less conflicting and more effective in addressing health and environmental harms associated with RPM.