Copyright reform agenda
The Commonwealth Attorney General’s opening address to the Blue Skies conference is here.
Some excerpts:
International reforms:
While recognising that the challenges of the digital era are a global, not just national, issue, the Attorney General identified access to cultural works by the visually impaired as an area for early action:
An example of one area in which I am particularly keen to see a result this year in the international arena is overcoming copyright barriers for visually impaired people in accessing copyright works in suitable formats. I understand that internationally, only five per cent of all works are available in accessible formats for the visually impaired. This is an unacceptable statistic and an acute problem for developing countries.
If there were hisses and boos from the audience, let’s hope it was for the right reasons!
On the domestic front:
- a straight bat played to yesterday’s iiNet decision
- a consultation paper will be released soon on who should be the beneficiaries of the ‘safe harbour‘ regimes, currently limited to the indecipherable “carriage service providers“
For example, the definition excludes entities that do not provide network access but provide online services – Google and Yahoo are obvious examples of this category.
(That is the Attorney General’s example, not mine.)
- possible introduction of a new “ad hoc” exemption to the technological protection measures (see e.g. s 116AN(9))
The Copyright Advisory Group has approached me for an additional exception to allow circumvention of technological protection measures for certain education purposes.
In particular they have sought an exception that would allow schools to change the format of films from DVD to MP4 for teaching purposes.
- there will be a reference on copyright to the Australian Law Reform Commission, probably later this year.
It would seem that what is to be referred still involves considerable clarification. One area flagged:
I believe there would be merit in examining some exceptions under our law in the context of the online environment and whether the correct balance exists.
Another which the ALRC will not be allowed to cut across:
It will be important to not duplicate work undertaken by Government on various policy issues, or in the course of related reviews -for example the Government’s Convergence Review.
So, it seems the Convergence Review will not just be “regulatory”.
Lid dip: Jane Treleaven
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