AUST GOVT SECOND ROUNDTABLE ON COPYRIGHT

Last month Image Makers Association Australia attended a two-day round table discussion on copyright reforms, held by the Department of the Federal Attorney General. The meeting was attended in roughly equal parts by representatives of those who own copyright and by representatives of those who use copyrighted material.  

The roundtable discussed three broad topics, being: orphaned works, remote learning and quotation. Generally speaking, all of the proposed changes to Australian copyright law would water-down existing copyright protections and make it easier for users of copyrighted material to obtain and use that material without the permission of, or payment to, the copyright owner. Below is a very loose set of notes taken during each part of the roundtable discussion. 

Orphaned Works: 

• discussion of a proposal to limit the liability for end-users of copyrighted work where the copyright owner cannot be identified or found

• proposed broad application across all media and disciplines, without exception 

• a discussion occurred around whether such a limitation of liability should only apply to non-commercial use or whether it might also apply to commercial use 

• due diligence requirements were considered essential (via a formal three step process)

• the level of diligence required for commercial use was proposed to be higher and more difficult than non-commercial use

• administration of the system shouldn’t outweigh the benefits

• there is an argument that the due diligence requirement might facilitate an increase in licensing for copyright holders as that process may encourage better discovery of authors

• consistency with international trade obligations are required

• guidelines are required 

• an easy and efficient process is required for copyright owners to obtain licensing payments if they later come out of the woodwork

• themes in separate, future copyright enforcement review on difficulty of pursuing claims also relate to this issue and will be considered further

Remote / Online Learning Discussion: 

• general agreement that in-person learning and online learning should be treated as equivalent, in terms of copyright law generally 

• some clarification around language may be required in the Act to better communicate this

Quotation of Copyrighted Material: 

• Administrative burdens make it difficult for many publishers, archives and libraries to ‘use’ quotations

• there were strong opinions on both sides of the debate about whether fair use quotation exceptions should be broadened under the Copyright Act

• it was generally held that moral rights (attribution) are to remain important and upheld 

• definition of ‘quotation’ needs further review; there was debate about whether quotation could include an entire work (ie: an entire photograph)

• discussion left open; AG Dept will go away and reconsider definitions, extent, scope, purpose, ideas for future discussion

The office of the Attorney General has issued a detailed summary paper that more thoroughly details the discussions that took place and includes a list of all participating organisations. That summary can be reviewed here.