This Chapter considers the European conception of the authorial works protectable by copyright, and the approach of the Court of Justice to determining whether an authorial work exists. To that end, it distinguishes three legal issues: the meaning of the term “authorial work”, the essential...

In Burge v Swarbrick, the High Court of Australia delivered an important decision on the most elusive of works protected by copyright: the work of artistic craftsmanship (WAC). Drawing on the history and reasons for that protection, and adopting the analysis of Lord Simon in Hensher, the Court...

In this article, the categories of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic (LDMA) works in which copyright subsists are considered, and an argument made that the legislature's division of protected works into categories is appropriate given the psychology of art appreciation, and the fact that...