-- JonathanMo - 14 Sep 2015

Other qualification for copyright protection

The CA requires two criteria or 'points of attachment' that must be satisfied for a work to qualify for copyright protection, namely:

• 'Qualified person' criterion: copyright protection for works created in Australia is limited to persons who are 'qualified' at the time the work was made. A 'qualified' person is described as an Australian citizen, an Australian protected person (that is, under the protection of the Australian Government - which included PNG citizens prior to their independence in 1975) or a person resident in Australia [CA s.32(4)]. The CA relies on the Australian Citizenship Act 1948 to define these terms further.
• 'Territorial' criterion: the essential requirement is that the subject matter was first published or made in Australia. Thus works are protected where first publication took place in Australia: [CA s.32(2)]; films where the film was made in Australia or first publication took place in Australia [CA s.90(2), (3)]. In the case of performances, a live performances (but not necessarily the first) needs to have been made in Australia.

Works created overseas are protected in Australia as if they were created in Australia, providing that country in which they are created is signatory to the relevant international treaties, such as the WTO's Agreement on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) or the Berne Convention, to which Australia is also signatory. Under the 'national treatment' and 'most-favoured-nation' clauses of these treaties, Australian works may receive reciprocal copyright protection overseas, provided the overseas country is signatory to the treaty. By the same token, Australia is obliged to extend at least the same level of protection to the other country as it does to its own citizens.