[Linux-aus] Australian copyright law on computer programs and FLOSS licensing?

[Bret Busby]

On Sun, 31 Jul 2011, Javier Candeira wrote:

> Date: Sun, 31 Jul 2011 20:55:32 +1000
> From: Javier Candeira <javier at candeira.com>
> To: linux-aus at lists.linux.org.au
> Subject: [Linux-aus] Australian copyright law on computer programs and FLOSS
>     licensing?
> 
> My name is Javier Candeira, and I am working as a lecturer at Monash
> University in Melbourne. This semester I am teaching Introduction to
> Computing Technology, with one lecture devoted to legal aspects of
> software development and usage.
>
> Could you please recommend me some reference books or white papers
> that look at copyright issues in software, and particularly at Free
> and Open Source licensing **from an Australian perspective**?
>
> In the past I have worked as a software developer and taught about
> FLOSS for Universitat Oberta de Catalunya in Spain, so I don't need
> general information about Free Software in practice. I am also aware that
> Australia is a signatory of the Berne Convention, and have access to
> the 1968 Australian Copyright Act as amended [1], so I know that
> roughly 80-90% of the material I teach in Spain is also valid here.
>
> However, I am not a lawyer, and I have never received legal advice
> regarding software development or open source licensing in Australia,
> so I am looking for documentation that explains the Australian legal
> particulars around programming and licensing.
>
>

In PLUG, in Perth, WA, there used to be a lawyer, and this was his 
forte.

Years ago, he gave a presentation about copyright law, including a 
comparison of the different licences (the GNU and BSD licences, etc).

I do not remember his name (my memory is not so good, nowadays), and I 
do not know how to contact him.

If anyone on this list, from PLUG, remembers him, they may be able to 
give his name, and a pointer in how to contact him.

--
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
  you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
   Chapter 28 of Book 1 of
   "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
   A Trilogy In Four Parts",
   written by Douglas Adams,
   published by Pan Books, 1992

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