Australia buys Aboriginal flag copyright, and Reuters is free to fly

SYDNEY (Reuters) – The Australian government said on Tuesday it had acquired the copyright of the Aboriginal flag so that it could be used freely by restricting the reproduction of the image by Aboriginal sports teams and communities by resolving the trade dispute.

The Aboriginal flag has been recognized as the official flag of Australia since 1995, flying from government buildings and embraced by sports clubs.

Following an agreement negotiated with indigenous artist Harold Thomas with the creator, the flag can be used on sports shirts, sports fields, websites and artwork without paying permission or fees, the government said on the eve of Australia’s national holiday.

Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday, Thomas said he first made the black, yellow and red flag in 1971 to direct a demonstration, and it became a symbol of indigenous unity and pride.

“The flag represents the eternal history of our territory and the time of our people,” he said in a statement.

The government has paid $ 20 million to shut down the licenses of Thomas and a few companies that have sparked controversy since 2018, demanding that they pay for the reproduction of the flag.

A 2020 parliamentary study said the licensee had asked health care providers and sports clubs to pay for it, which could lead to communities ceasing to use the flag to prevent legal action.

Famous Australian Aborigines, including former Olympian Nova Peris, led the “Free the Flag” campaign.

Australian Indigenous Minister Ken Wyatt said the flag had become a permanent symbol for Aboriginal people.

“For the past 50 years we have made Harold Thomas’s artwork our own; we marched under the Aboriginal flag, stood behind it and flew as a point of pride,” he said in a statement.

“Now that the Commonwealth has copyright, it’s for everyone, and no one can take it away.”

The celebrations of Australia Day, which is celebrated on 26 January with a national holiday, have become controversial as Indigenous Australians see this date as the Great Britain invasion of their lands.

1788 is the date on which the British fleet entered the port of Sydney to create a penal colony, seeing that the land was unoccupied, despite the discovery of settlements.

It has been debated whether to move the national holiday to another date.