In a world-wide survey conducted by Business Software Alliance this
year,
of the highest piracy rates seen in
reason for such a low piracy rate is because of
the active role that the
Australian government is undertaking to ensure the enforcement of a
predictable and balanced legal environment.
The Commonwealth government is demonstrating political leadership
through a number of initiatives ensuring a
balanced and predictable
legal and regulatory environment to encourage
the use of e-commerce.
(WIPO) and most multilateral IPR agreements, including the
Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, the Universal
Copyright Convention; the
Cooperation Treaty etc. These initiatives are
aimed at building the
confidence of business and consumers that
online commerce is
authentic, private, secure, and legally sound.
In addition,
represented on a number of international for to ensure that interests
are protected in the development of e-commerce.
The Intellectual
Property Branch in the Department of Communications,
Information has
responsibility for a diverse range of policy issues relating to
intellectual
property, its management and
protection. The Branch has responsibility,
jointly
with the Attorney-General's Department, for copyright policy matters
relating
to the Copyright Act 1968 and advises on the Government's copyright
reform
agenda.
Domain names which
originally served as user-friendly addresses to reach
internet
sites are increasingly used as unique and distinctive means to provide
gateway
to reach internet sites. This leads to conflicts between trade marks and
domain
names. Many problems like Cyber squatting (registration of trademarks,
as
domain names in the hope to sell then to the trade mark owner) and reverse
hijacking
(trade mark owners using the legal system to challenge bona fide
domain
name registrations) has crept up. This raises many challenges for traditional
law
of trade marks, and causes potential problems for Australian trade mark
holders
doing business through the Internet. Australian trade marks, distinctive
terms
and well known names (such as Telstra) are dealt with under the Domain
Name Dispute
Resolution Service administered by the WIPO within the
framework
established by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
and
Numbers). ICANN is a non-profit corporation formed to assume
responsibility
for IP addresses space allocation, protocol parameter assignment,
domain
name system management etc.
The Electronic
Transactions Act was established in 1999, to create a regulatory
regime
for using electronic communications in
transactions. The Act facilitates
electronic
commerce in
may
prevent a person using electronic communications to satisfy legal
obligations
under Commonwealth law.
Section
10 of the Act deals with Digital Signature Laws. It allows a person to
satisfy
a legal requirement for a manual signature by using an electronic
communication
that contains a method that identifies the person and indicates
their
approval of the information communicated. The legislation provides
flexibility
for people and businesses to determine the signature technology
that
is appropriate to their particular needs. The method need not be a unique
identifier.
Rather it must identify that person sufficiently for the purposes of
the
communication. The Act does not endorse a particular electronic signature
technology.
The purpose of the legislation is to remove existing legal obstacles
that
prevented Australians from conducting electronic transactions with any
degree
of confidence as to their status.