Moral rights in Australia: a case law retrospective—Part 2

Abstract It has been 25 years since Australia formalized its moral rights regime, amending Part IX of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) to include three moral rights: the right of attribution of authorship; the right not to have authorship falsely attributed; and the right of integrity. This two-part series provides a retrospective of case law on these rights in Australia, focusing on 14 cases between 2006 and 2024 where the applicant claimed a breach of one or more moral rights. It adopts a thematic approach, considering, among other issues, where copyright and moral rights proceedings have been commenced together; the courts that have heard these matters; where cases have not been able to proceed, for example, where the allegedly infringing act occurred outside Australia; interpretation of the rights; and the division between cases where damages have been awarded, or the judge has declined to award damages for a breach of moral rights. This part examines the cases where one or more moral rights of the author have been allegedly infringed; how the courts have interpreted those rights; where the respondent has sought to use the ‘reasonableness’ defence to excuse a breach of the right of attribution or the right of integrity; and cases where the judge has awarded damages, in contrast to decisions where damages were not awarded for an established moral rights infringement.