Volume 9 Issue 1

Aboriginal art and the public domain

Colin Golvan*

Care needs to be exercised in making use of Aboriginal art. While Australian courts favour the protection of Aboriginal art under copyright law, difficulties arise due to a strong divergence of understanding about the scope of the ‘public domain’ from an Aboriginal as opposed to a non-Aboriginal perspective.

This paper explores recent cases on infringement of copyright in Aboriginal works and concludes that if the level of interest in Aboriginal works by non-Aboriginal Australians continues to rise, then the issue of providing further protection for the reproduction of Aboriginal works should be addressed.