Copyright in custom code: Who owns commissioned software?

Legal context: When software is commissioned, it is important that the partiesagree what rights are being acquired and what rights retained.Copyright is the most important such right, but moral rightsand database rights must also be considered. When there is noexplicit agreement on these rights, the courts are often facedwith claims that there is an implied term that they should vestin the client (or be waived in the case of moral rights). Thisarticle examines the issues that arise in such cases. Key points: The article outlines the development of case law dealing withimplied terms as to ownership of commissioned works. It explainshow the courts have applied older principles to the new areaof commissioned software, and how those principles have evolvedto make it more difficult for a client to establish an impliedterm in their favour. The article examines in particular issuesarising from code reuse, the disclosure of source code, andthe application of database rights and moral rights to software.It also considers case law where clients have claimed to bejoint authors of software by virtue of their involvement inits design and testing. Practical significance: There are an increasing number of cases where software is commissionedon an informal basis and disputes later arise as to the ownershipof that software. This article provides a framework for consideringsuch disputes.     

“Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” I Do: Postwar Australian Wine,Gendered Culture and Class

During an era of expanding social inclusion in the 1960s and 1970s, Australians increasingly drank more wine than at any previous time in colonial or national history. These wines were made in new styles and consumed in accordance with new habits across gender and class. The morphology of one of Australia’s most popular “introduction wines” of this period, Lindeman’s Ben Ean Moselle, reveals the emergence of new elements of national character. From being advertised to women in the late 1960s as “just right”, Ben Ean’s cultural messaging in the 1970s flirted with general appeal to men and women of the new middle class: “anywhere, anytime”. Then, by the mid-1980s, the ascendancy of this light, semi-sweet table wine was halted by the emergence of an elitism in which new professionals favoured consumer products of provenanced distinction. The arc of Ben Ean’s rise and fall symbolises an informalisation and subsequent reformalisation of values, conventions and identities during a time of social and cultural flux.     

“Nobody helps us”: insights from ultra-poor Bangladeshi women on being beyond reach

This paper documents the exclusion from formal assistance of 43 Bangladeshi ultra-poor female heads of household, which forces women to rely on overstretched forms of informal assistance that are not culturally prescribed and are often experienced as shameful. Experiences of helplessness reinforced by dominant views of the ultra-poor as going nowhere discourage women from seeking out formal assistance. In order to overcome the effects of being deemed “beyond reach”, scholars and providers of aid must attend to persistent forms of neglect and exclusion in formal aid programmes, including the false assumption that the ultra-poor easily access prescribed informal social supports.

« Personne ne nous vient en aide » : points de vue de femmes bangladaises ultra-pauvres sur le fait qu'elles sont « hors de portée »

Cet article documente l'exclusion de toute assistance formelle de 43 Bangladaises chefs de famille ultra-pauvres, exclusion qui contraint ces femmes à dépendre de formes d'assistance informelle déjà insuffisantes qui ne sont pas culturellement prescrites et sont souvent vécues comme honteuses. Les expériences d'impuissance, renforcées par le fait que les ultra-pauvres sont le plus souvent perçus comme condamnés à leur condition, dissuadent les femmes de demander une assistance formelle. Afin de surmonter les effets qu'a sur elles le fait d'être considérées comme « hors de portée », les théoriciens et les fournisseurs d'aide doivent remédier à des formes persistantes d'abandon et d'exclusion dans les programmes formels d'aide, y compris la fausse hypothèse selon laquelle les ultra-pauvres peuvent facilement accéder à des réseaux de soutien social informels.

“Nadie nos ayuda”: hallazgos obtenidos entre mujeres en situación de extrema pobreza de Bangladesh respecto a su percepción de estar fuera del alcance de toda ayuda

Este artículo documenta las condiciones en que se encuentran 43 mujeres cabezas de familia de Bangladesh en situación de extrema pobreza, quienes han sido excluidas del sistema de asistencia formal. Tal exclusión obliga a las mujeres a depender de la escasa asistencia informal, no sancionada culturalmente. Por ello, a menudo experimentan vergüenza a la hora de recibirla. Al buscar ayuda formal las mujeres enfrentan las dificultades generadas por la sensación de impotencia que las invade, la cual se ve reforzada por la opinión existente a nivel general de que las personas que padecen extrema pobreza nunca podrán salir de esta situación. Para superar los efectos producidos por la percepción de estar “fuera del alcance de toda ayuda”, los académicos y los proveedores de asistencia deberán enfrentar las persistentes formas de abandono y de exclusión derivadas de los programas de ayuda formales, incluyendo la suposición falsa de que las personas en situación de extrema pobreza pueden obtener ayuda social informal con facilidad.

“Ninguém nos ajuda”: ideias de mulheres bengalesas que vivem em pobreza extrema sobre estarem fora de alcance

Este artigo documenta a exclusão, da assistência formal, de 43 mulheres bengalesas chefes de família que vivem em pobreza extrema, o que as força a dependerem de formas sobrecarregadas de assistência informal que não são culturalmente indicadas e que são frequentemente vivenciadas como humilhantes. Experiências de desamparo reforçadas por visões dominantes sobre as pessoas que vivem em pobreza extrema não conseguirem ir a lugar algum desincentivam as mulheres a buscar assistência formal. Para superar os efeitos de se ser considerado “fora de alcance”, acadêmicos e provedores de ajuda humanitária devem abordar as formas persistentes de negligência e exclusão de programas de ajuda formal, incluindo o falso pressuposto de que os que vivem em extrema pobreza têm acesso facilmente a apoio social informal adequado.     

Whole-face procedures for recovering facial images from memory

Research has indicated that traditional methods for accessing facial memories usually yield unidentifiable images. Recent research, however, has made important improvements in this area to the witness interview, method used for constructing the face and recognition of finished composites. Here, we investigated whether three of these improvements would produce even-more recognisable images when used in conjunction with each other. The techniques are holistic in nature: they involve processes which operate on an entire face. Forty participants first inspected an unfamiliar target face. Nominally 24 h later, they were interviewed using a standard type of cognitive interview (CI) to recall the appearance of the target, or an enhanced ‘holistic’ interview where the CI was followed by procedures for focussing on the target's character. Participants then constructed a composite using EvoFIT, a recognition-type system that requires repeatedly selecting items from face arrays, with ‘breeding’, to ‘evolve’ a composite. They either saw faces in these arrays with blurred external features, or an enhanced method where these faces were presented with masked external features. Then, further participants attempted to name the composites, first by looking at the face front-on, the normal method, and then for a second time by looking at the face side-on, which research demonstrates facilitates recognition. All techniques improved correct naming on their own, but together promoted highly-recognisable composites with mean naming at 74% correct. The implication is that these techniques, if used together by practitioners, should substantially increase the detection of suspects using this forensic method of person identification.     

Postmortem concentrations of citalopram

The postmortem concentrations of citalopram in blood, bile, liver, and vitreous humour were investigated in 14 cases using a specially developed high performance liquid chromatography assay. Concentrations from drug and non-drug related deaths were categorized to determine a postmortem therapeutic and toxic range. Therapeutic citalopram concentrations for blood, bile, liver, and vitreous humour ranged to 0.4 mg/L, 2.1 mg/l, 6.6 mg/kg, and 0.2 mg/L, respectively. In one potentially fatal response to citalopram, concentrations were 0.8 mg/L, 6.0 mg/L, 0.3 mg/L for blood, bile and vitreous humour, respectively.     

Postmortem investigation of lamotrigine concentrations

Lamotrigine is a relatively new anticonvulsant. Therapeutic plasma concentrations generally range from 1 to 4 mg/L, although several studies have shown that good control of epilepsy has been achieved with concentrations reaching 10 mg/L generally, with little toxicity. In overdose, however, the drug has been linked to ECG changes that may suggest a possible arrythmogenic effect and hence cardiac toxicity. Lamotrigine has also been shown to cause encephalopathy and thus neurotoxicity. There is no information concerning postmortem lamotrigine concentrations and their interpretation. We describe lamotrigine concentrations in postmortem specimens including blood, liver, bile, vitreous humour, and urine from eight cases. A high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method is described with extraction procedures for the various tissues. Two possible groups were identified. The first being the "broader therapeutic" group with blood concentrations ranging from 0.9 to 7.2 mg/L and corresponding liver concentrations ranging from 16 to 36 mg/kg. The second being a "supratherapeutic" group with blood concentrations ranging from 20 to 39 mg/L and corresponding liver concentrations ranging from 53 to 350 mg/kg. Although none of the eight cases described were attributed to overdose by lamotrigine alone, the cause of death for one of the three cases in the "supratherapeutic" group was given as mixed drug toxicity. Cause of death for the remaining two cases in this group was reported as epilepsy. However, both these cases showed elevated concentrations of lamotrigine and both were co-medicated with valproic acid. Such co-administration has been shown in the literature to lead to elevated lamotrigine concentrations and a reduction in lamotrigine dose has been recommended. With such data, we highlight the importance of monitoring lamotrigine concentrations in cases co-medicated, particularly with valproic acid.