International copyright protection

Contributed by Annette Rubinstein and Fitzroy Legal Service and current to 1 September 2005

Australia, like almost all commercially significant countries, is a signatory to the Berne Convention. The Convention requires each member state to extend copyright protection to works created in the other member states on the same basis that local works are protected. This means that a book written in England by an English resident will be covered by Australian copyright law on the same terms as if it had been written by an Australian resident, and vice versa.

As a result, a book may be out of copyright in Australia (where copyright lasts for 50 years from the death of the author) but still in copyright in the UK (where it lasts for 70 years).