The Copyright Amendment Bill 2006 was introduced into Parliament on 19 October 2006. It has been referred to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee.

The bill includes amendments, which were released in draft form, relatiing to:

• technological protection measures;

• enforcement

• unauthorised reception of encoded broadcasts

• time-shifting and format-shifting

• non-commercial activities of libraries, educational institutions, cultural institutions

• people with a disability

• parody and satire

• Copyright Tribunal

Submissions to the Committee are due by 30 October. The Commitee is to report by 10 November.

For further information, including a link the bill, Explanatory Memorandum and the Senate Committee’s inquiry, click here.

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Exposure Drafts of three sets of amendments to the Copyright Act are now available from the Attorney-General's Department's website. The amendments relate to:

• new exceptions (including time-shifting, format shifting and exceptions for libraries, educational institutions, people with a disability and parody and satire), and other Digital Agenda review measures

• enforcement provisions

• unauthorised access to encoded broadcasts

The Exposure Drafts are available from here.

The Attorney-General's media release is available from here.

Further information in the Attorney-General's Department's AGD e-News available here.

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On 4 September 2006, the government released draft amendments to the Copyright Act relating to circumvention of technological protection measures (TPMs). The amendments are intended to implement Australia’s obligations under the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement, which requires changes to the Copyright Act by 1 January 2007.

• For the draft amendments, and a summary of the amendments, click here.

• For the draft regulations, click here.

• For information about matters to be addressed in submissions seeking new circumvention exemptions, 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.

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The Attorney-General announced on 18 February 2005 that the Government would be conducting an inquiry into whether Australia should adopt a 'fair use' provision similar to that in the US.

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The Copyright Amendment (Film Directors’ Rights) Bill was assented to on 8 November 2005, and has come into force. The amendments to the Copyright Act will come into force 6 months from that date, on 8 May 2006 - or earlier, if proclaimed before that date.

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TheCopyright Legislation Amendment Act 2004 was passed on 7 December 2004. The Amendment Act makes some amendments to the changes to the Copyright Act by the US Free Trade Amendment Implementation Act, which is due to come into effect on 1 January 2005, and to the US Free Trade Amendment Implementation Act itself.

The new amendments include changes to:

• the defences in ss43B and 11B, which allow the making of temporary reproductions in certain cases

• the requirements for the "safe harbour" provisions for Carriage Service Providers

• some minor changes to the performers' rights provisions

• the phrase "by way of trade AND with the intention of obtaining a commercial advantage or profit" - changed in each case to "by way of trade OR with the intention of obtaining a commercial advantage or profit" * use of encoded broadcasts accessed without authorisation

• changes to the compensation provisions for use of material which would have been in the public domain but for the FTA amendments.

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