Infojustice.org: Australia Commits To Overhaul Of Copyright Act

From infojustice.org: “[Australian Digital Alliance, Link (CC-BY)] It has been a big week for Australian Copyright.  On Thursday the Attorney-General, the Hon George Brandis QC, tabled the long-anticipated final report from the Australian Law Reform Commission’s (ALRC) Copyright and the Digital Economy inquiry. This inquiry was charged with determining if copyright exceptions and limitations were working in the digital age. The conclusion was that reform was needed.

The ALRC recommended:

• Replacing most specific copyright exceptions with a broad, flexible ‘fair use’ exception
• Retaining and simplifying some specific exceptions, such as preservation copying and document supply for libraries and archives, and exceptions for some government and judicial uses.
• Reforming the statutory licences for government and education
• Limiting remedies for use of orphan works where a reasonable diligent search has been carried out prior to use
• Preserving the library exceptions (and the fall-back recommendation of extended fair dealing) from contracting out.
• Recommendations about broadcasting for the government to consider when setting media and communications policy

On Friday the Attorney-General delivered a crucial speech at the Australian Digital Alliance Forum, which sets out the Government’s priorities and approaches to copyright.

The full text of the Attorney-General’s speech can be found here.”