Moral rights in Australia: a case law retrospective—Part 1

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 introduces the Australian moral rights regime, the interaction between copyright and moral rights law, the courts, applicants and where cases with moral rights claims have been unable to proceed.