IAN McDONALD, MA (Hons), LLB, Dip. Ed.
Special Counsel Copyright
imcdonald@simpsons.com.au
Ian comes to Simpsons having been a copyright lawyer with the Australian Copyright Council for over 17 years, prior to which he worked for the judges in the Common Law Division of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.
During his time with the Court, Ian worked across a wide range of law – from admiralty, to defamation, to personal injury and criminal law.
During his time with the Copyright Council, Ian concentrated on copyright and related areas of law, and regularly advised authors and illustrators, songwriters, architects, graphic artists, photographers and website designers, as well as people working in theatre, in publishing and in museums and galleries.
Ian has published and lectured extensively on copyright, moral rights and performers’ rights, with a particular focus on copyright compliance issues. Apart from the Copyright Council, organisations for which he has lectured or run workshops include APRA, CAL, the Arts Law Centre of Australia, Australian Business Arts Foundation and the Australian Institute of Architects.
Ian is currently editor of the Copyright Society of Australia’s journal, Copyright Reporter. He is also a member of the Computers and the Law Society (NSW).
In addition to his legal qualifications, Ian has a Masters degree in English literature and, prior to studying law, Ian worked in a range of music and theatre jobs. When time permits, he attempts to keep up his piano skills.
Sample papers and publications:
User-Generated Content: a practical guide; New Technologies for Education: copyright issues; Technology, Contracts & Paracopyright (with Libby Baulch); Music & Copyright: a practical guide; Churches & Copyright (with Libby Baulch); Architects & Copyright; Educational Institutions: Text & Images; Educational Institutions: digital & AV resources; Community Arts & Copyright, “Special case” Exception: education, libraries, collections; Libraries: managing licences for Digital Resources; Protecting Indigenous Intellectual Property: a discussion paper; and Photographers & Copyright, (published by the Copyright Council)
Copyright in the New Communications Environment; and A Comparative Study of Library Provisions (for the Centre for Copyright Studies)
“Some thoughts on orphan works”; “Creative Commons: just say CC?”; “When is an exception not an exception? Two dimensional reproductions of public art”; and “Current and emerging issues for the visual arts” (published in Copyright Reporter)
Hot Topics: Copyright (for the Legal Information Access Centre, State Library of New South Wales),
“What qualifies as a signature?” (Incite); “Some thoughts on the Creative Commons licences” (NAVA); “Using music in films” (Off the Air); “Cross fertilisation or cultural imperialism” (Sounds Australian); “Reading the news: copyright, music and the internet” (Sounds Australian); “Bailey’s, bottles and bills … the parallel importation of labels and packaging” (IP Forum); “Internet crime: copyright infringement” (Australian Institute of Criminology)
Ian has also contributed to: Visual Arts Industry Guidelines Research Project: Copyright and Moral rights for Visual and Craft Artists (NAVA); Practical Forms & Precedents NSW (LBC Information Services); and Australian Legal Dictionary (Butterworths)