Blue Sky Conference, Sydney, 25 February, 2011

I attended yesterday a conference that was held in Bather’s Pavilion, Balmoral Sydney on future directions in copyright law. The conference went very well and attended by influential judges, legal experts and IP scholars primarily from Australia, China and New Zealand. The Commonwealth Attorney- General the Hon Robert McClelland opened the conference. Dr. Francis Gurry, the Director General of WIPO gave an excellent non- conventional talk on copyright and IP reform, and the importance of changing mindsets toward the subject. The Hon Michael Kirby provided interesting comments and called for rethinking of the IP system especially for people with AIDS in developing countries.

Professor Adrian Sterling from the University of London called for a “cosmic reform” of the copyright system in relation to the internet in the third millennium. Professor Brian Fitzgerald commented on the talks and provided his own perspective on the important issues that we need to consider for a copyright reform. Dr. Terry Cutler from Culter and Co gave his economic perspective on IP and the need to understand IP beyond law. Professor Anne Fitzgerald gave a talk on the public sector copyright, and how the policy and practice need to change in Australia.

Professor Suzy Frankel from Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand spoke about Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and ACTA. Professor Graham Greenleaf from New South Wales University spoke about the public domain in Australia. Professor Sam Rickteson from the University of Melbourne provided his views on “revising” the three- step test of the Berne Convention. The Hon Justice Arthur Emmett gave an excellent talk about Roman law, property and IP. He was one of the Judges in the first ISP liability copyright case in Australia iiNET that reached the court of appeal.

For more information about the conference, see the blue sky conference brochure.