The Government announced today (27 May 2005) that it is reviewing the laws relating to the use of unauthorised equipment to access pay TV signals without paying subscription fees. Submissions are due by 17 June 2005.
Click here for more information.
The Government announced today (27 May 2005) that it is reviewing the laws relating to the use of unauthorised equipment to access pay TV signals without paying subscription fees. Submissions are due by 17 June 2005.
Click here for more information.
The Government released an issues paper on fair use on 5 May 2005. The issues paper sought submissions about whether the Australian Copryight Act should be amended to include an exception to infringement similar to the fair use exception in US law.
Click here for the issues paper and submissions.
Click here for the government's summary of the issue and outcome of the review.
Click here for the Government's media release.
Click here for a link to the Attorney-General's speech announcing the inquiry.
On 14 September 2006, the government released draft regulations dealing with exemptions to liability for circumvention of access-control technological protection measures.
For the draft regulations, click here.
For the government's media release, click here.
For information about matters to be addressed in submissions seeking new circumvention exemptions, click here.
For information about the draft Coyright Amendment (Technological Protection Measures) Bill 2006, click here.
Due dates for responses
Responses to the draft Technological Protection Measures Bill are due by 22 September.
Submissions on further exemptions to circumvention are due by 25 September.
Responses to the draft regulations are due by 6 October.
The Copyright Amendment Act 2006 was passed on 5 December 2006.
The Act includes amendments relating to:
technological protection measures
enforcement: criminal penalties and preumptions
unauthorised reception of encoded broadcasts
time-shifting, format-shifting and space-shifting
certain non-commercial activities of libraries, educational institutions, cultural institutions
people with a disability
parody and satire
Copyright Tribunal
The Copyright Amendment Act 2006 received Royal Assent on 11 December 2006. The following schedules are in now in force:
Schedule 6 (private copying, “special case” exception, fair dealing, parody and satire, libraries)
Schedule 7 (maker of communication)
Schedule 8 (responses to Digital agenda Review: educational institutions)
Schedules 10 and 11 (Copyright Tribunal);
The following schedules are not yet in force:
Schedule 9 (encoded broadcasts): 28 days after Royal Assent; and
Schedules 1 to 5 (new criminal provisions and enforcement measures) and Schedule 12 (technological protection measures): 1 January 2007
Further information
inquiry of the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs into the Copyright Amendment Bill 2006: click here.
a consolidated version of the Copyright Amendment Act 2006 will be available from here (scroll to Copyright Amendment Act 2006).
The Attorney-General’s Department has published guidelines for organisations wanting to be prescribed as “key cultural institutions” under sections 51B, 100BA and 112AA of the Copyright Act. These provisions came into operation on 11 December 2006 and give “key cultural organisations” a broader ability to make preservation copies of copyright material than permitted under the other, pre-existing library and archive provisions.
Organisations set up under a statute with “the function of developing and maintaining [a] collection” are already entitled to rely on these provisions; other organisations with material of historical and cultural significance to Australia may apply to the Attorney-General in writing to be prescribed as a key cultural institution for the purposes of the sections.
Organisations wanting to apply to be prescribed should include in their application:
the name and address of the body seeking prescription, together with information as to where the relevant collection is located (if not at the same address as the body administering it);
whether or not the public has access to the material for research or study purposes, and if not, how the public will otherwise benefit from the preservation copying;
details of the collection, material, or item to be copied for preservation;
an explanation of the reason why the material is considered by the organisation to be of cultural or historical significance to Australia (the guidelines give as an example that it is “the only collection of material of this kind in Australia”);
any other relevant matters (the guidelines give as an example, “any relevant qualifications of the person assessing the material or of the person who may act as the authorising officer” for the collection).
The guidelines state that each application will be considered on its merits and that, where the Attorney-General is not satisfied with the information provided, further information may be requested. The guidelines also state that the Attorney-General may “consult as he/she considers appropriate”.
To view the guidelines, click here.
The government’s proposed amendments to the Copyright Amendment Bill 2006 are available from the Australian Parliament website.
For further information on the bill, click here and scroll to "Copyright Amendment Bill 2006".
The amendments include:
limitations on the strict liability offences
replacement of the proposed exception to allow format-shifting of music with an exception allowing "space-shifting": an owner of a copy of a sound recording will be able to make copies of that sound recording to use on any device, owned by that same person, that plays sound recordings (the copies need not be in a different format from the format of the original)
the existing definition of "record" will be retained for the statutory licence for recording musical works
a new defence of fair dealing for parody or satire (instead of an exception subject to the three-step test)
a new limitation on the new "non-commercial" use exceptions to exclude uses for commercial profit, but allowing cost recovery
a new version of the amendment to s 40 (research or study), limiting the meaning of "reasonable portion" to 10% or a chapter for published material
key cultural institutions entitled to make 3 (rather than one) preservation copies of certain material
a new version of the proposed amendment to s28, relating to communications for the purpose of playing or performing material in class
a new version of the proposed amendment (s200AAA) relating to proxy caching by educational institutions
a new definition of "licensor" for the purposes of the Copyright Tribunal provisions to limit the Tribunal's extended jurisdiction to licences offered by collecting societies.