Assignment of Australian Copyright on Articles Prepared by Non-Resident Authors

A non-resident writes an article which is submitted to an Australian publisher for publication. 2. After publication the non-resident author sends an invoice to the Australian publisher. 3. The invoice is endorsed with words to the effect that the non-resident author assigns the Australian copyright in the article to the Australian publisher for a short period of time, say three months. 4. The non-resident author and the Australian publisher also agree that no RWT will be deducted from the payment to the author as they argue that the payment is for the assignment of the ownership of the copyright in the article rather than for the use of that copyright. 5. The Australian publisher makes payment to the non-resident author for the purported purpose of acquiring the copyright in the article, rather than as a royalty for its use, and does not deduct and remit RWT.