2. IP with automatic protection or no protection

• Automatically protected IP
• Duration of protection
• Assert your ownership
• Works with no copyright protection

Automatically protected IP

These types of IP are automatically protected for a certain duration:

• Copyright
• Trade secrets
• Circuit layouts.

Duration of protection

The duration of protection depends on the type of IP.

Copyright

In Australia, “copyright for literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works generally lasts 70 years from the year of the author’s death or 70 years from the year of first publication after the author’s death. Copyright for films and sound recordings lasts 70 years from their publication and 50 years after being broadcast for television and radio broadcast.” – Attorney-General’s Department.

When copyright expires, works fall into the “public domain” and can be freely used.

The Australian Copyright Council has a fact sheet explaining the duration of copyright in detail.

Trade secrets

Trade secrets don’t have a limit on the length of protection. It is up to the owner of the trade secret to keep it a secret.

Circuit layouts

Knowledge Commercialisation Australasia explains that a circuit layout’s “maximum possible protection period is 20 years”.

Assert your ownership

You do not need to register to protect your rights for these types of IP but you can still take steps to assert your ownership.

It is not required but adding a copyright notice (a “C” enclosed in a circle), followed by your name and date is a reminder to others that the work is owned by someone and may help you prove your ownership for example, if you are sharing the work online.

Protecting your copyright, from the Australian Copyright Council, recommends:

• Keeping dated copies of material, such as recordings, documents, images
• Keeping copies of communication with people who have access to the work
• Any agreements about copyright are in writing, not just verbal.

For trade secrets, Knowledge Commercialisation Australasia recommends the use of confidentiality agreements for employees and others, to protect the knowledge.

If you are commissioning creative works, IP Australia recommends the ownership of IP should be considered and included in the terms and conditions of the contract before work starts.

Works with no copyright protection

Some works might not meet the requirements to receive copyright protection. These include:

• Data sets – Data are considered facts and are not able to be copyrighted. The formatting of the data within the set and the formatting of any graphs or tables could be copyrightable.
• Works dedicated to the Public Domain
• Photographs of existing works
• Single words and phrases – These might be able to be trademarked.
• Works created by non-humans. This includes content created by Artificial Intelligence (AI).
  • The Complex World of Style, Copyright and Generative AI blog discusses some of the issues around copying works to train AI and whether that should be considered copyright infringement.
  • Copyright legislation in relation to works used for training generative AI models and copyright in the output created using AI tools is unclear and will evolve as cases arise and are tested in courts.