Entertainment rights in the age of the franchise: a reappraisal of personality rights under Australian intellectual property laws. Global entertainment industry practice is to assert broad rights in creative entertainment concepts and characters. There is huge global merchandising potential for cultural products, as demonstrated by The Wiggles, Harry Potter and Pokemon. In the US, the UK, Japan and Korea there have been developments to enhance the protection of character and personality rights. ....Entertainment rights in the age of the franchise: a reappraisal of personality rights under Australian intellectual property laws. Global entertainment industry practice is to assert broad rights in creative entertainment concepts and characters. There is huge global merchandising potential for cultural products, as demonstrated by The Wiggles, Harry Potter and Pokemon. In the US, the UK, Japan and Korea there have been developments to enhance the protection of character and personality rights. However there is no current study of the status of the entertainment franchise under Australian intellectual property law. With Australian imports of cultural products at an all-time high and with local productions increasingly geared towards worldwide audiences, this study critically evaluates how Australian law fits with the realities of the global entertainment marketplace.Read moreRead less
Hacking Copyright in the 21st Century: Art, Law, History & Technology. This project aims to leverage historical insights to investigate the tensions underlying the legal treatment of visual works of art. It will generate software and scholarship that trace the relationship between technology and visual copyright from the first statutory protections of visual artworks in the 18th century through to contemporary regulation of the dissemination of digital image data via digital publishing platforms ....Hacking Copyright in the 21st Century: Art, Law, History & Technology. This project aims to leverage historical insights to investigate the tensions underlying the legal treatment of visual works of art. It will generate software and scholarship that trace the relationship between technology and visual copyright from the first statutory protections of visual artworks in the 18th century through to contemporary regulation of the dissemination of digital image data via digital publishing platforms. Its significance lies in its interdisciplinary and innovative investigation of long-standing problems of contemporary copyright law at the intersection of the visual and digtal domains. It will have impact on law reform and policy development, with benefits for visual artists, collecting institutions and the public.Read moreRead less
Cultural Collections, Creators and Copyright: Museums, Galleries, Libraries and Archives and Australia's Digital Heritage. This project investigates current and emerging ways of using digital collections in museums, galleries, libraries and archives, in light of copyright law and the interests of creators. It serves the strong public interest in facilitating digital access to collections while efficiently managing copyright. Exploiting the potential of digital media and maximising Australia's cr ....Cultural Collections, Creators and Copyright: Museums, Galleries, Libraries and Archives and Australia's Digital Heritage. This project investigates current and emerging ways of using digital collections in museums, galleries, libraries and archives, in light of copyright law and the interests of creators. It serves the strong public interest in facilitating digital access to collections while efficiently managing copyright. Exploiting the potential of digital media and maximising Australia's creative capability both depend on providing adequate incentives for content production while granting access to creative material as a resource for new production. The project will assist Australia better manage its digital cultural collections and balance the interests of creators, institutions and public accessibility.Read moreRead less
A study of work stress, workplace culture and wellbeing programs for lawyers and support staff. Work stress and mental health issues are now recognised as a serious problem among Australian lawyers. This project examines the drivers of work stress in a large public sector legal service organisation and identifies the most effective workplace interventions for promoting mental health and wellbeing among legal service providers.
Constitutional Design & Democratic Resilience . Democracy is under stress worldwide. Both new and longstanding are seeing waves of democratic erosion. In many cases, this erosion is also taking new and more subtle forms, which are harder to detect than outright coups or suspensions of democracy – that is, they involve a form of “abusive constitutional change” that uses existing legal democratic norms and processes to subvert democracy from within. This Project will investigate the nature and sc ....Constitutional Design & Democratic Resilience . Democracy is under stress worldwide. Both new and longstanding are seeing waves of democratic erosion. In many cases, this erosion is also taking new and more subtle forms, which are harder to detect than outright coups or suspensions of democracy – that is, they involve a form of “abusive constitutional change” that uses existing legal democratic norms and processes to subvert democracy from within. This Project will investigate the nature and scope of this problem of abusive constitutional change, as well as potential solutions through constitutional design. It will offer new theoretical insights for the field of comparative constitutional studies, and practical insights for policymakers in Australia and globally.Read moreRead less
The Subversion of Contemporary Performance-Based Pay - A Comparative Australian-US Study. The key national benefit from the project will be the development of a more informed basis for analysing, and making policy and regulatory decisions about executive remuneration, which is a matter of great community concern in Australia. The project will assess key provisions in Australian and US executive contracts, providing important comparative information about the structure and operation of performan ....The Subversion of Contemporary Performance-Based Pay - A Comparative Australian-US Study. The key national benefit from the project will be the development of a more informed basis for analysing, and making policy and regulatory decisions about executive remuneration, which is a matter of great community concern in Australia. The project will assess key provisions in Australian and US executive contracts, providing important comparative information about the structure and operation of performance-based pay schemes. The project will also examine whether systemic problems exist in executive remuneration, The results will assist policy analysts in identifying directions for legal reform, to address problems of non-alignment of interests in executive remuneration, thereby achieving fairer outcomes. Read moreRead less
Landlords, Tenants and Access to Justice: A Longitudinal Study of Residential Tenancies Disputes. The proposed research will compare the strikingly different justice regimes governing residential tenancy disputes over the last 3 decades in New South Wales. These regimes have ranged from the exclusively formal, or court-based, to a hybrid model (with some matters resolved by tribunals, others by the courts) and finally to an almost exclusively tribunal-governed system. This study seeks to compare ....Landlords, Tenants and Access to Justice: A Longitudinal Study of Residential Tenancies Disputes. The proposed research will compare the strikingly different justice regimes governing residential tenancy disputes over the last 3 decades in New South Wales. These regimes have ranged from the exclusively formal, or court-based, to a hybrid model (with some matters resolved by tribunals, others by the courts) and finally to an almost exclusively tribunal-governed system. This study seeks to compare the effectiveness of these various regimes in delivering justice to all parties. No such study has been conducted in Australia, and the results will provide a basis for informed decision on whether the latest model should remain the preferred one in a sector of the housing market catering for more than 25% of the population of NSW, a large proportion of whom are disadvantaged.Read moreRead less
Choosing Litigation to Resolve International Law Disputes in the Protection of Australia's Offshore Assets, Its Citizens and Foreign Trade. The potential benefits of this project are far-reaching, as it not only advances scholarly knowledge of the role of litigation in international dispute settlement, but is also intended to promote better governmental, legal, political, and community understanding of international dispute settlement options and to ensure that international law disputes are res ....Choosing Litigation to Resolve International Law Disputes in the Protection of Australia's Offshore Assets, Its Citizens and Foreign Trade. The potential benefits of this project are far-reaching, as it not only advances scholarly knowledge of the role of litigation in international dispute settlement, but is also intended to promote better governmental, legal, political, and community understanding of international dispute settlement options and to ensure that international law disputes are resolved for Australia's benefit. Through the development of a comprehensive and integrated framework for deciding on resort to litigation, this project will enhance Australia's relationships with neighbouring states and allies through successful use of dispute settlement techniques in relation to issues of economic, social and security importance to Australia.Read moreRead less
Enhancing court safety by managing people, places and processes. Australia will be better protected 'from terrorism and crime' by having safer courts. High-profile criminal cases can be managed more expeditiously, vulnerable participants will be able to take part more confidently in justice processes, while Australian society more generally will be protected by having courts that provide effective responses to crime while maintaining openness and respect for law. In providing a holistic analy ....Enhancing court safety by managing people, places and processes. Australia will be better protected 'from terrorism and crime' by having safer courts. High-profile criminal cases can be managed more expeditiously, vulnerable participants will be able to take part more confidently in justice processes, while Australian society more generally will be protected by having courts that provide effective responses to crime while maintaining openness and respect for law. In providing a holistic analysis of safety needs and responses, the study also provides an empirial foundation for developing 'smart information uses', ensuring that surveillance and screening technologies complement court design and training policies to create environments that are physically and psychologically safe.Read moreRead less
Creating more consistent privacy principles through better interpretation and law reform: an Australasian initiative to resolve an international problem. More consistent information privacy principles at the core of Australia's privacy laws, and more consistency in interpretation, will result in greater efficiency for business and government, and better protection of human rights and consumer interests. In the health sector, consistency of privacy laws will facilitate better health through the d ....Creating more consistent privacy principles through better interpretation and law reform: an Australasian initiative to resolve an international problem. More consistent information privacy principles at the core of Australia's privacy laws, and more consistency in interpretation, will result in greater efficiency for business and government, and better protection of human rights and consumer interests. In the health sector, consistency of privacy laws will facilitate better health through the development of national online health infrastructure. Australasian privacy scholarship will obtain enhanced international recognition through a pioneering study of the comparative use of privacy case law for cross-national interpretation. 'Model IPPs' will aid the harmonisation of global privacy laws. Read moreRead less