This month, in the second forum in our three-part series exploring the relationship between democracy and the law, we will focus on the the role of intellectual property law in a Democracy. 

For a “deep” democracy to exist there needs to be access to a free flow of information. Intellectual property laws such as copyright and patents can restrict this flow of information however it also protect the rights of the work's authors. How do we protect these rights but still provide access to a free flow of information? How do we use the law to enhance democracy?

A recoding of the evening cam be found over the page:

Where: Stork Hotel [504 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne]
Cost: $5 (free for ACDJ members)
Contact: centre@democracyandjustice.org for more details

Speaker: Jamie Wodetski, founder and CEO of the Australian Digital Alliance

Jamie Wodetzki is CEO of a software company called Exari (www.exari.com) which develops and sells a document assembly system to law firms, banks, insurance companies and government agencies worldwide. He is also chair of the Australian Digital Alliance (www.digital.org.au), a coalition of educational, library, cultural, IT and consumer members, which, since 1998, has promoted access to information and the interests of users under copyright law. Jamie advised SISA (an open systems lobby group), libraries and educational clients during the "Digital Agenda" copyright reforms, when he was a Senior Associate at national law firm Minter Ellison. In 1996 he represented the International Federation of Library Associations at the diplomatic conference in Geneva which resulted in the WIPO Copyright Treaty. For fun, he reviews eggs and bacon on the Breakfast Blog (www.thebreakfastblog.blogspot.com), which won a Bloggie in 2007. Jamie lives in Melbourne.