BACK TO THE START: RE-ENVISIONING THE ROLE OF COPYRIGHT REVERSION IN AUSTRALIA AND OTHER COMMON LAW COUNTRIES

This thesis looks at copyright reversion: returning copyright to authors after a particular time or other circumstance, so they can take advantage of new opportunities like ebooks and audiobooks to make more money and make their works more available to the public. It shows that publishing contracts aren’t enough when it comes to giving authors these rights. It then looks at the rest of the world for lessons on the types of reversion laws we could implement so authors are better-placed to take these new opportunities.