Julli Markgraf 
Copyright for DVDs – High-Tech Development – Blessing or Curse? 

Seminar paper from the year 2003 in the subject Law – Media, Multimedia Law, Copyright, grade: 62 %, Bond University Australia (Law School), course: Intellectual Property, language: English, abstract: Following up the last mentioned development, the copyright of DVD’s and
the protective sanctions, which the copyright owners of the film industry
imposed, will be the central focus of the assignment. However, the paper will
not address the issue of downloading film data from the Internet. For the
purpose of that paper, the question of backing up purchased DVD’s will be
the major focus.
Under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), film is defined under secondary work. In
order to distinguish works from secondary works, the Copyright Act 1968
defines “protection of forms of expression that are artistic, literary, dramatic
and musical items”4 as works, whereas mechanical rights, “such as films,
sound recordings, television broadcasts and published editions”5 are defined
as secondary work. The reason for that differentiation is that secondary work
is generally based on a work. However, the copyrights exist independent of
each other simultaneously.6
Furthermore, “film is defined as the aggregate of visual images capable of
being shown as a moving picture, including the soundtrack.”7 This also
includes movies which are made by computer animation, such as Finding
Nemo for example. Moreover, even interactive video games fall under the
definition of film since the decision of Saga Enterprises LTD v Galaxy
Electronics Pty Ltd (1997) 147 ALR 2. However, the paper will not deal with
cinematographic films defined under that case (interactive games) but will
only focus on movies in a classical understanding.
As previously mentioned, the film industry developed several protective
strategies, which were supposed to resist against copyright piracy. However,
the copyright owners had to face several bitter discomfitures. A 15-year-old
Norwegian used basic mathematic formulas and cracked the protective code.
New high-tech technology offers devices for easy DVD copying of already
purchased products. The segmentation of the market in several area codes is
facing the test of the infringement of competition law. Also subject to the
question of competition law was the question dealt with in the Australian
case Australian Video Retailers Association Ltd v Warner Home Video Pty Ltd
[2001] FCA 1719, where Australian Video Retailers refused to accept the
Warners approach of introducing two different DVD types on the market, one
for retail and one for rental.[…]
4 Quirk, P., Forder, J., Electronic Commerce and The Law, p. 181.
5 s. above, p. 181.
6 s. above, p. 181.
7 s. above, p. 187.