Hello Australian fangirls and fandom communities, I know I said I had no time for you but the funny thing about my work is how often fan culture and remix comes up. Like this time:

Attorney-General's speech at the 15th Biennial Copyright Conference last week:

Australian Law Reform Commission Reference
Earlier this year I said that I intended to ( Read more... )

The US Supreme Court is set to examine whether or not Congress is able to restore copyright protection for a creative work that is in the public domain, ie., works over which copyright has expired.

I ... I don't even know where to begin with how insane it would be if public domain works can be brought back under copyright O.o;;

Barnes & Noble just launched PubIt!, a new platform that lets individuals upload their opuses, sell them as real, honest-to-goodness ebooks in B&N's eBookstore, and keep a decent chunk of the profit.I'd say something about a new way to distribute fanfic and orig-fic (and get money from it) but I'll bet money there's some interesting clauses in the ( Read more... )

I love fanfiction. I think it's a fantastic way to encourage critical thinking about texts and cultural works, for people to get into and improve their writing skills, and to give characters and worlds new exciting lives and have full potential explored. More than that, creating fanfiction is a fantastic way to meet people and make new friends you ( Read more... )

For those who have heard of it, there's currently negotiations for an international anti-counterfeiting treaty that many expect will be the first focused international effort to crack down on global intellectual property piracy. It's been closely watched by many people, and subject to a lot of criticism about its secrecy and lack of transparency. ( Read more... )

YouTube purging satirical Hitler Downfall rant videos

I'm more surprised that it's taken the German studio so long to do this.

This does not surprise me at all: Movie studios appeal iiNet piracy ruling.

Meantime, in Australia it's proven to be possible to sue online trolls for defamation -- provided you can hunt them down and identify them first.

Anime downloaders sued in Singapore settle, disappear

The two men at the heart of the first online downloading lawsuit here have backed down from contesting the suit filed against them by a group of Japanese anime studios ( Read more... )

In a display of complete geekitude today, I delayed going to work this morning in order to attend the Federal Court in Sydney for the judgement in Roadshow Films Pty Ltd et al v iiNet Limited, also known as Hollywood vs. the Internet, also known as The Biggest Internet Case Since Napster and Kazaa That Could Change Your Life. I got there half an ( Read more... )