Christou, Sophia; Maurushat, Alana --- "'Waltzing Matilda' or 'Advance Australia Fair'? User-generated content and fair dealing in Australian copyright law" [2009] UNSWLRS 29

Last Updated: 26 August 2010

‘Waltzing Matilda’ or ‘Advance Australia Fair’? User-generated content and fair dealing in Australian copyright law

Sophia Christou, University of New South Wales
Alana Maurushat, University of New South Wales

Citation

This paper has been published in the Media and Arts Law Review (2009) 14(1) MALR 46.

Abstract

In 2005, the Australian Government conducted a review of copyright legislation and the exception of fair dealing. Following this review, the framework of the existing fair dealing exemptions was retained, with the addition of a new exception of fair dealing for the purpose of parody or satire. Debate on the topic was posited within the traditional framework of commercial producer and consumer. The surge of user-generated digital content, and the novel issues surrounding such content, only emerged in the periphery. This article will examine the potential scope of fair dealing exemptions applied to user-generated digital content. Emphasis is placed on the ‘grey zone’ of user-generated content: those works that push the boundaries of copyright law into unchartered territory. As parody and satire constitute a novel area in Australian copyright law, less restrained by prior court decisions, the article places emphasis on fair uses within user-generated content for these purposes.