Volume 5 Issue 1

Why the Copyright of 'Look and Feel' is Not Applicable to Australian Law

Alicia Duigan (1)

This paper outlines the developments which have led to the protection of look and feel being rejected by Australian legislators. Australia's Copyright Law Review Committee has produced a draft report on computer software protection, where it was decided that the principles expounded in the American cases did not apply to the Australian situation. (2) This was partly because of the inherent flaws in the reasoning displayed by the American judges. The American position has however recently shifted with the decisions of Computer Associates v Altai and Apple v Microsoft, where the Courts expressly rejected the former approach to applications for protection of 'look and feel' of the computer screen, which suggests the draft report is correct in excluding protection for look and feel. The other decisive factor is that Australia's computer industry is occupied with standardisation and compatibility as opposed to America where the computer industry is innovative and world leaders in their field.

1 Tutor in law, University of Tasmania at Launceston; B.Ec. LLB (Hons) University of Tasmania. I would like to thank Daniel Hunter and Anne Fitzgerald for their suggestions and advice in writing this paper.

2 Copyright Law Review Committee, Draft Report on Computer Software Protection, A.R. McLean Printing, ACT, 1993.