The Australian Law Reform Commission is seeking submissions on its paper Copyright and Digital Economy Issues Paper.  The paper and questions it raises are described below. The deadline for submissions is November 16, 2012.

August 2012:  With a view towards providing structure to the debate regarding the adequacy of present exceptions and licensing in the digital environment, the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) published an issue paper on August 20, 2012 on its’ inquiry, entitled Copyright and the Digital Economy.

The ALRC’s inquiry was made with regard to considering incentivizing economic and cultural development. The ALRC, therefore, sets out the goal of the inquiry and a Guiding Principle for reform in Questions 1 and 2;

The Inquiry

Question 1. The ALRC is interested in evidence of how Australia’s copyright law is affecting participation in the digital economy. For example, is there evidence about how copyright law:

(a) affects the ability of creators to earn a living, including through access to new revenue streams and new digital goods and services;

(b) affects the introduction of new or innovative business models;

(c) imposes unnecessary costs or inefficiencies on creators or those wanting to access or make use of copyright material; or

(d) places Australia at a competitive disadvantage internationally.

 

Guiding Principles for Reform

Question 2. What guiding principles would best inform the ALRC’s approach to the Inquiry and, in particular, help it to evaluate whether exceptions and statutory licenses in the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) are adequate and appropriate in the digital environment or new exceptions are desirable?

The Issue Paper is organized around 17 basic headings under which 55 questions are asked. The 17 areas include Fair Use and Fair Dealing, Educational Institutions, Libraries and Archives, Orphan Works, Private Use , Transformative Use and Clouding, to name a few.

Fair Dealing and Fair Use are focused on broadening the exception, as in the US and in light of international developments in Copyright Law in India and Canadian court cases. Questions 45 and 46 deal with Fair Dealing:

Question 45. The Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) provides fair dealing exceptions for the purposes of:

(a) research or study;

(b) criticism or review;

(c) parody or satire;

(d) reporting news; and

(e) a legal practitioner, registered patent attorney or registered trade marks attorney giving professional advice.

What problems, if any, are there with any of these fair dealing exceptions in the digital environment?

Question 46. How could the fair dealing exceptions be usefully simplified?

Questions 52 and 53 deal with Fair Use:

Question 52. Should the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) be amended to include a broad, flexible exception? If so, how should this exception be framed? For example, should such an exception be based on ‘fairness’, ‘reasonableness’ or something else?

Question 53. Should such a new exception replace all or some existing exceptions or should it be in addition to existing exceptions?

An exception for Quotations is also suggested in question 47;

Question 47. Should the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) provide for any other specific fair dealing exceptions? For example, should there be a fair dealing exception for the purpose of quotation, and if so, how should it apply?

 

Other Issues for consideration in advancing technological changes are:

Cloud Computing

Library and Archive Digitization

Data and Text Mining

Transformative Use

The closing date for submissions in response to the Issues Paper is November 16, 2012.
After submissions are gathered, the ALRC will issue a discussion paper and call for submissions to that paper. The Final Report is due to be delivered to the Attorney General by November 30, 2013.