The Personal Property Securities Bill 2009 and the Personal Property Securities (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2009 received Royal Assent on 14 December 2009.

The Personal Property Securities Act 2009 and the Personal Property Securities (Consequential Amendments) Act 2009 will apply after the registration commencement time, expected to be in May 2011.

The Acts will deal with personal properties including copyright and other forms of intellectual property.

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Information about the Bill

Attorney-General's Department news item

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The government 2.0 taskforce draft report “Engage: getting on with government 2.0” has been released.

Submissions are due by 5 pm 16 December 2009.

Click here to view the draft recommendations

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The Senate has passed the following without amendment:

• Resale Royalty Right for Visual Artists Bill 2009;

• Tax Laws Amendment (Resale Royalty Right for Visual Artists) Bill 2009;

• Personal Property Securities Bill 2009; and

• Personal Property Securities (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2009

The commencement date for the Resale Royalty Right for Visual Artists Bill 2009 will either be fixed by proclamation or within 6 months of receiving Royal Assent, whichever comes first.

The Personal Property Securities Bill 2009 will commence the day after it receives Royal Assent.

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Information about Resale Royalty for Visual Artists Bill

Information about Personal Property Securities Bill

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The Federal Government has announced that there will be no change to the current importation provisions for books.

Today’s media release by the Hon Dr Craig Emerson MP explains that the Government has not accepted the Productivity Commission’s recommendation to remove the parallel importation restrictions on books and has decided not to commit to a new spending program for Australian authors and publishers.

The Government judged that removing the current restrictions would be unlikely to have any material effect on the availability of books in Australia.

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Terri Janke has published a paper, “Beyond guarding ground: a vision for a National Indigenous Cultural Authority’” in which she proposes the establishment of a National Indigenous Cultural Authority to create a new framework to “promote Indigenous cultural and intellectual property and set standards for appropriate use including royalties, cultural integrity and attribution”: at 35.

The paper includes useful summaries of key copyright cases involving Indigenous creators and communities.

The paper is available for download at the Australia Council website.

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Australia Council

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The Productivity Commission has released the advice received from the Office of International Law (dated 4 June 2009) in relation to Australia’s international legal obligations and the Commission’s report dealing with the parallel importation of books.

The advice addresses a suggestion from some booksellers that parallel importation protection for ‘Australian versions’ of books be retained, and importation only would be allowed in situations where an ‘Australian version’ is unavailable.

The advice concludes that this proposal would be inconsistent with Article 6 of TRIPS (with reference to provisions regarding ‘National Treatment’ and ‘Most Favoured Nation’: Articles 3 and 4) and therefore unlikely to be consistent with the AUSFTA or the Berne Convention.

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Productivity Commission Report: Parallel Importation of Books

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