Lawyers expand their monopoly

The case went to the Full Court of the Federal Court which held unanimously in favour of NSW's free right to use and disseminate the plans. But last Wednesday, in a case that's gone all but unreported, the High Court held unanimously that what the Federal Court seemed to know for sure just ain't so.

I’ll leave the legal reasoning to the lawyers, but one lawyer - Professor Brian Fitzgerald of the Queensland University of Technology - may be underwhelmed having proffered a range of legal arguments that their Honours dealt with sketchily if at all.

Economically it's the usual travesty.

The decision increases costs for users - including you next time you need a copy of your title documents. Yet the increased IP will encourage not one additional unit of surveying. Moreover, how far has the free flow of other content been jeopardised by their Honours’ reasoning?

While an extra odd $20 here or there for surveyors’ plans is small beer, these imposts frustrate those who might otherwise add value to the content in unforeseeable ways. Five years ago, who would have predicted "street view" on Google maps, which launched in Australia last week along with the CAL decision?

That's why around the world in places like the UK and New Zealand, Governments have established comprehensive policies to optimise public access to publicly owned information. Australia has hastened more slowly and spasmodically.

Our Parliament could decide to pick up the pace by legislating; so that in the future, it just ain't gonna be so.