The Government and Copyright: Introduction

Abstract

The Government and Copyright focuses on the interplay between law, policy and practice in copyright law by investigating the rights of the government as the copyright owner, the preserver of copyright material and the user of other’s copyright material under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). The first of two recurring themes in the book asks the question whether the needs and status of government should be different from private sector institutions, which also obtain copyright protection under the law. The second theme aims to identify the relationship between government copyright law and policy, national cultural policy and fundamental governance values.