Intellectual property rights include patents, trade marks and copyright. The Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) grants exclusive rights in the copyright owner, including the right to use, reproduce and publish works. Copyright exists in original works, such as computer programs.

Infringement of copyright occurs when a person uses the work without a licence and contrary to the rights of the owner. This can occur if software is illegally downloaded from the internet. There is sometimes a misconception that if something is available on the internet, anyone can use it and that copying is fine because “everyone does it”.

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