• DOI:10.1177/1037969X0903400302
• Corpus ID: 148729597

Lack of Political Will or Academic Inertia?

@article{Hadley2009LackOP,
  title={Lack of Political Will or Academic Inertia?},
  author={Marie Hadley},
  journal={Alternative Law Journal},
  year={2009},
  volume={34},
  pages={152 - 156}
}

• M. Hadley
• Published 1 September 2009
• Political Science, Law
• Alternative Law Journal

152 — AltLJ Vol 34:3 2009 For more than 30 years, Indigenous art and copyright commentators have levelled Indignant and frustrated voices at the state of Australia’s copyright law. The initial focus of critique was the exclusion of Indigenous works from copyright protection, a situation which prevailed until the late 1980s. However, once formal equality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous works was achieved, the focus of commentary shifted to the substantive inequality occasioned by equal rights before the law. The special nature of the Indigenous context was deemed far removed from copyright’s traditional wealth creation function and thus, special and culturally appropriate intervention was seen as necessary to protect Indigenous works from unsolicited reproduction. Commentators looked towards other sources of law, such as confidential information and native title, as well as the possibility of legislative intervention to remedy the deficiencies of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth).