4.+Copyright+and+the+Law


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 THREE WAYS OF COMMITTING CRIME UNDER AUSTRALIA'S COPYRIGHT ACT  ** Section 132 of Copyright Act 1968 – Criminal Offences It is considered criminal offence if a person:  Penalty - Up to $60,500 fine or 5 years imprisonment (Australian Copyright Council, 1994).
 *  Authorises infringement – encourages to infringe
 *  Imports certain items containing copyright material
 *  Records or films a live performance without permission

Shareware allows you to try a program for a period of time (usually 30 to 60 days) for free before you buy the software. It is cheaper than commercial software packages because it only lasts for the trial period and is designed to give consumers a taste of what it is like, before they make a decision to buy it or not (PC Shareware, 1988).
 * SHAREWARE AND COMMERCIAL SOFTWARE PACKAGES **

Digital Rights Management (DRM) is software designed to control access to copyrighted digital content. It is implemented by embedding a code into the media. It was developed to manage the increase in online piracy especially due to peer-to-peer file exchange programs such as //Limwire//. DRM can prevent copying, limit the number of devices the media can be installed on, and specify the time in which content can be accessed (TechTarget, 2007).
 * DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT (DRM)- TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPED TO REDUCE SOFTWARE PIRACY **

On multimedia product is composed of multiple copyrighted works which means the publisher must ask for consent from many owners for just one single multimedia product. Sometimes the process of finding the copyright owner and receiving permission is very tedious. Multimedia publishers must also secure the rights or licences of the acts: adaptation, fixation, reproduction, publication, communication to public and use of end user. Overlapping rights or neighbouring rights must also be taken into consideration. These include the relating rights of a work e.g. a CD recording of a song would be protected by the rights of the composer, lyricist, performers (singers, musicians) and producers (Hugenholtz, 2005).
 * COPYRIGHT IS A MAJOR PROBLEM FOR MULTIMEDIA PUBLISHERS ** 

**<span style="color: #808080; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">IS IT RIGHT TO COPY SOFTWARE WITHOUT PERMISSION? ** It is not right to copy software without permission of the author because it is unfair and will just end up affecting consumers in the long run. If people just copy software, the authors will lose money and most likely their income if they are making a living out of creating these products. If this piracy continues, authors will go out of business, therefore resulting in a decline in the availability of their products and new software. This in turn affects consumers and the future of digital projects.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">**<span style="color: #808080; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">SOFTWARE AND THE INTERNET ** [] offers freeware (free software) and shareware which is a trial of the software for free, and then the users can purchase the software for the full price if they are pleased with the program. This website offers different types of softwares in categories such as: security, business, educational, graphic design, networking and entertainment software (CBS Interactive, 2010).

If something is put on the internet, it doesn't necessarily mean it is in the public domain or copyright free. Under Australian Copyright Law, only the copyright owners have the exclusive rights to 'communicate' the program to the public. This includes making it available online and electronically transmitting it. The only exception is if the owner has given permission to someone else to make their software available on the internet. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">If software is made available on the internet without the owner’s consent, then it is still considered as infringing material. The software owner can then take action in court and any damages (compensation for money lost) and profits (made by infringer's selling of infringing copies) may be recovered (Australian Copyright Council, 1994).