An alliance of 22 creator and creative economy organisations representing 5.9 per cent of Australia’s workforce welcomes the announcement of a Copyright and AI reference group by Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus KC MP. Our organisations represent the emerging and established creators and artists across the creative economy and includes every genre, artform and medium. Whether it’s […]
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Universities Australia have applied for judicial review of the decision of the Copyright Tribunal on the rate payable by the 39 universities for use of copyright material.
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In 1974 Frank was one of a small band of determined volunteers campaigning for respect and financial recognition for Australian creators. His legacy lives on today ensuring that creators are fairly remunerated for their work in a digital environment that provides millions of students with access to high quality educational material. Frank generously gave permission […]
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Association of Corporate Counsel Australia (ACC) sees copyright compliance as a key legal requirement, and understands that it is critical for in-house counsel to ensure it is being applied appropriately within their organisations. ACC Australia and Copyright Agency have announced a partnership to promote good copyright governance in the Australian corporate sector.
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On Friday, the Copyright Tribunal delivered its decision in relation to the rate that media monitoring companies, iSentia and Meltwater, should pay to use news publishers’ print and digital content in their monitoring services. The media monitoring organisations’ (MMOs) case began in 2017 following the development of a new licensing model by the Copyright Agency. […]
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Local Australian creator groups, including the Australian Society of Authors, Australian Publishers Association, Copyright Agency, APRA AMCOS, Screenrights and ARIA | PPCA have urged powerful education, cultural government entities and big tech not to use the COVID-19 pandemic to undermine creator rights.
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Mr Gadi Oron, the Director General of CISAC – the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers – will visit Australia and New Zealand this month for a first-hand look at the challenges and success stories around rights management in the region. CISAC, headquartered in France, is headed by electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre […]
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Australian Association for the Teaching of English Treasurer and Reading Australia Secondary Resources Manager, Phil Page, was invited by the International Publishers Association to speak at a side event for the World Intellectual Property Organisation Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights in Geneva in October. Phil and the AATE are passionate advocates for the value […]
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Copyright Agency has issued its 2018-19 Annual Report at its AGM held in Sydney on 20 November 2019. The report provides the audited financial results of the company and reports on achievements in the last financial year. 2018-19 was a strong year with many gains for our members. Highlights include: Strong financial results We generated revenue of around $150m and paid […]
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A MESSAGE FROM CEO ADAM SUCKLING Dear members, As promised previously, I am writing to update you on progress in the Copyright Tribunal in the actions against Universities Australia (UA) and the Media Monitoring Organisations (MMOs). Recently, the Copyright Tribunal determined an interim rate that Universities Australia is required to pay in copyright licence fees […]
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The Copyright Agency welcomes a landmark report from the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage which has backed Canadian authors in their push to reform copyright laws in that country. Copyright Agency CEO Adam Suckling says, “Canadian authors and publishers have endured serious erosions to their livelihoods since 2012 as a result of copyright changes which […]
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The Australian Inclusive Publishing Initiative, supported by Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund, has launched two guides: Inclusive Publishing in Australia and Making Content Accessible. Inclusive Publishing in Australia is an introductory guide for publishers and all those who contribute to the publishing workflow, including editors, proofreaders and indexers. It explains how inclusion and accessibility benefit both the […]
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The banking royal commission’s final report has put a spotlight on non-financial risks. For financial institutions, addressing copyright issues is one of the crucial risks that can easily be addressed. “I feel like I gotta say something. Sh*t ain’t sitting right with me.” US rapper, Kendrick Lamar “I feel you bruh. Do it for the […]
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The Australian Society of Authors has joined with similar organisations in the UK and America to condemn the Internet Archive’s Open Library project, which aims to digitise and distribute books for free. A recent examination of the project by the ASA found that the site was hosting scanned copies of in-copyright books by Australian authors […]
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Today, the Copyright Agency, on behalf of its 40,000 members, will lodge an action in the Copyright Tribunal to determine the value of the copyright licence Australian universities rely on to copy and share extensive amounts of educational content. The action comes after a breakdown in commercial discussions with Universities Australia (UA), for a new […]
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The Parliamentary Friends of Australian Books and Writers (PFABW) celebrated its first anniversary in late September with a record number of attendees at Parliament House. Launching the Australian Reading Hour for 2018, co-chairs Assistant Minister the Hon. Linda Reynolds CSC and Graham Perrett MP, noted they were pleased with the turn out for such a […]
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Australian universities learned how to harness technology to better connect their students with copyright-compliant course materials when leading British university copyright expert visited the Gold Coast. Kate Vasili from Middlesex University attended the Asia-Pacific Library and Information Conference on August 1 to share her experience with best-practice digital solutions during her visit. Middlesex University partnered with […]
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The Copyright Agency is currently protecting the rights of its members through several different actions in the Copyright Tribunal. NSW Government As some of you will be aware, we are in dispute with the NSW Government over non-payment of licence fees for over five years. We participated in mediation on Wednesday 20 June but were regrettably […]
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Australian rock legend Jimmy Barnes has joined the push for the NSW government to pay creators the millions of dollars owed to them in copyright fees. Read the story in the Daily Telegraph.
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Authors are calling for the NSW government to pay a fair fee for using their material. Read the story in the Daily Telegraph.
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Hazel Edwards explores how authors need to multi-task to create value for themselves and their readers. Why are you writing? To live more intensively? To earn a living? To keep learning? To avoid boredom? To share little known worlds? As an excuse for travelling? Justifying the way a life has been lived? Fame, and especially […]
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More than 40 students and staff members from Trinity Grammar School in Sydney have shared the books that mean the most to them in individual videos to support the Copyright Agency’s This Book Changed My Life social media campaign. The videos have been compiled by the School’s AV department into a short feature film, which will […]
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To assist the current review of copyright law in Canada, the Copyright Agency joined with the Copyright Council, the Australian Publishers’ Association and the Australian Society of Authors to submit a paper providing an overview of our copyright framework and current state of play. This was partly prompted by some misunderstandings about the situation in […]
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Copyright is under review in Canada. This has come about because of a change to Canada’s copyright laws in 2012 which meant education was added as a copyright exception to the Act – which has resulted in some severe unintended consequences for authors. Similar proposals have been repeatedly recommended in Australia by the Productivity Commission […]
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Copyright Agency is a supporter of, and contributor to, the Content Café, a hub for copyright information from Creative Content Australia. This platform exists to promote constructive, accurate and informative perspectives on copyright and the role it plays in creativity and innovation, especially for the screen industry. You might be familiar with the screen industry’s […]
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Copyright modernisation consultation The Department of Communications and the Arts has opened a new consultation process on reform options for copyright. It has released a ‘Copyright modernisation consultation paper’ and is asking for views on three areas of the Copyright Act that is says “may benefit from modernisation”. Flexible exceptions: “which need to adapt over […]
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Strathfield Council in Sydney has issued an apology and agreed to pay damages for infringing the copyright of newspaper publishers and others. The Council has also purchased a Copyright Agency licence in recognition of the role grassroots journalism plays in providing valuable information to its operations. Copyright Agency’s CEO, Adam Suckling says. “In 2015 the […]
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The following speech on creativity was delivered by acclaimed author Richard Flanagan at the Copyright Agency’s end-of-year event in Sydney, 30 November 2017. “In 1964 a rising young Labor politician called Gough Whitlam told a senate enquiry that there was no such thing as a publishing industry in Australia. In 1964 an Australian living in […]
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The Productivity Commission continues its crusade against Australian creators by repeating recommendations on copyright reform based on a mischaracterisation of Australia’s copyright framework. Copyright Agency CEO Adam Suckling said the copyright sections of the Commission’s “Shifting The Dial” report continue to undermine the value of Australian producers of literature, education materials, music, film and content […]
Read MoreThe 2017 Educational Publishing Awards, sponsored by the Copyright Agency and Opus Group, were held on 20 September. The Publishers of the Year were Brisbane’s Origo Education in the Primary category and Oxford University Press for the Secondary category. Keynote speakers for the evening included: Gheran Steel (Boon Wurrung Foundation), Chris Gray (Wiley), Adrian Rhodes […]
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The Copyright Agency today welcomed the Government’s measured response to the Productivity Commission report on Australia’s Intellectual Property arrangements which recognises Australia’s copyright system is critical for creative innovation. Copyright Agency CEO Adam Suckling says, “Copyright plays a critical role in driving investment in the cultural and innovative life of our nation. We welcome the Government’s recognition […]
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Teacher Associations representing more than 200,000 teachers and/or schools around the country have signed the following Open Letter to oppose the Productivity Commission’s recommendations on copyright in Australia because it will affect their ability to create high quality resources for teachers. OPEN LETTER TEACHER ASSOCIATIONS COME OUT IN SUPPORT OF AUSTRALIAN CREATORS TO OPPOSE PRODUCTIVITY […]
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Since our campaign Free Is Not Fair began, thousands of letters have been sent to Federal MPs and Senators in all 150 electorates across Australia. It’s not too late to let your elected representative know how you feel about potentially damaging changes to copyright in Australia. Visit www.freeisnotfair.org now and voice your concern. You can […]
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Things change rapidly in the world of copyright. Here’s a quick roundup of all the latest news. Who stands to gain from Oz copyright changes? Copyright Agency Board member, journalist Chris Pash, revealed in a Business Insider article the interests and alliances that stand to gain from proposed changes to Australian copyright law. He writes: […]
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This Letter to the Editor, appeared in The Australian Financial Review on 11 July 2017 Thank goodness for the Australian Association for the Teaching of English and its logical, progressive view on strong copyright law (“Copyright changes are risky, say English teachers” July 7). In Canada, most educational groups succumbed to the siren call of […]
Read MoreThe President of the Australian Association for the Teaching of English, Wendy Cody, has written in The Australian Financial Review of how important Australia’s copyright licensing system is for their association and for teachers, because “…it’s a fair system and it works because it lets teachers get on with the job of doing what they […]
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Australian organisations representing musicians, authors, visual artists, educators, screen producers and publishers have joined forces to mount the #FreeIsNotFair campaign in response to a push by Big Tech and large organisations to water down Australia’s copyright laws. The campaign’s website www.freeisnotfair.org features leading Australian creators, such as musicians Jimmy Barnes and Josh Pyke, actor, director and writer […]
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Australia’s leading writers for stage and screen add their voice to oppose Productivity Commission recommendations on copyright. Did you love Underbelly, Offspring, Rake, Emerald City, The Drover’s Wife, Red Dog, Away, Animal Kingdom or The Secret River? Or Strictly Ballroom, Neighbours, Happy Feet, Don’s Party, Muriel’s Wedding or Babe? As writers telling some of Australia’s best-loved stories across […]
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Iconic Australian playwright David Williamson wrote in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday 10 June about why copyright is so vital to him and why he and 49 of Australia’s leading stage and screenwriters have signed an Open Letter rejecting any relaxation of Australian copyright. “A lot of people used to say to me, you’re lucky to […]
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The national peak body protecting and promoting the professional interests of the Australian visual and media arts, craft and design sector, NAVA, is gathering signatures as part of a campaign opposing the Productivity Commission’s recommendation to introduce ‘Fair Use’ in Australia. The recommendations to relax copyright protections with the introduction of the US doctrine of […]
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In an article in Business Insider, the Chair of the Australian Copyright Council, Kate Haddock, picks apart Wikipedia’s campaign to get copyright changed in Australia. She writes: ‘This campaign is about Big Tech companies who want the change so they can use Australian content — music, literature, educational materials, movies — without paying for it. […]
Read MoreThings change rapidly in the world of copyright in Australia – so here’s the latest round up to bring you right up to speed. Copyright amendments The Government is about to pass amendments to the Copyright Act, supported by the Copyright Agency and other content creator representatives, which will significantly increase access to copyright material, while […]
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Steve Jobs said: “From the earliest days at Apple, I realised that we thrived when we created intellectual property. If protection of intellectual property begins to disappear, creative companies will disappear or never get started.” Bravo Steve, I say! Read Copyright Agency Chairman Kim Williams’ Opinion piece published in the Fairfax media today: Copyright changes are […]
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Copyright Agency welcomes the Government’s amendments to the Copyright Act which will make it even simpler for students to access a huge range of content, allow libraries to exhibit more material to the Australian public and enable people with disabilities to access copyright material more easily. “These changes remove unnecessary red-tape and are a sensible […]
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Seamus McGuinness, the Managing Director of Australian educational publisher, R.I.C. Publications, writes about how weakening copyright rules will give big tech companies a free ride on Australian creative content. Download and read the licensed copy from today’s Australian Financial Review newspaper.
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Everything you need to know about the Productivity Commission’s findings on copyright: Part 2 Since the Productivity Commission’s (PC) final report on Australia’s IP arrangements was released by Government in December, there has been a lot of activity. Here’s a quick summary of what’s happened to date. The report recommends a number of damaging changes to Australian […]
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We are members of Australia’s content, creative and entertainment sectors, producing Australian work and telling Australian stories across media, screen, music, literature and the arts. Our sector makes a significant contribution to Australian culture, jobs and the economy employing hundreds of thousands of Australians to produce some of Australia’s best loved stories. We are […]
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The Executive Director, International IP, at the Global Intellectual Property Center of the US Chamber of Commerce, Patrick Kilbride, writes in The Australian newspaper today: …”Historically, Australia has been a world leader when it comes to IP legislation and is one of a small group of nations that has effective incentives to create in place, providing legal […]
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Just before Christmas last year the Productivity Commission’s final report on Australia’s IP arrangements was released by the Government. The report recommends a number of damaging changes to Australian copyright including introducing ‘Fair Use’ and removing parallel import restrictions on books. The Government’s Department of Industry, Innovation and Science is accepting submissions on the final […]
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CEO of the Copyright Agency, Adam Suckling, writes in today’s Fairfax press: Mad Max, Muriel Heslop, Deb Mailman, Barnsey, Farnsey, Flume, Sia and Magda. What do they have in common? We all know them because they represent the best of our creative culture – and our Australian identity. They are unique to us: this sunburnt […]
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The Productivity Commission has ignored the testimonials and submissions of Australian creators, authors, musicians, filmmakers, journalists and artists by recommending the removal of protections that ensure Aussie creators receive fair payment for their work. “Australians artists, writers, musicians and filmmakers have a right to receive fair payment for their work. These sweeping changes to Australian […]
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Australians artists, writers, musicians and filmmakers have a right to receive fair payment for their work. The sweeping changes to Australian copyright laws being cheered on by Fairfax journalist Peter Martin, the Productivity Commission as well as American big tech companies will see these protections taken away. In his opinion piece in today’s SMH and Age, […]
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“Copyright Agency | Viscopy welcomes the Federal Opposition’s support for Australian publishers, writers and booksellers and their ability to invest in Australian writers by keeping in place territorial copyright which the Productivity Commission wants to abolish,” said Copyright Agency CEO Adam Suckling. “However we remain gravely concerned about many other proposals in the Productivity Commission […]
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Australians are about to get a glimpse into the creative worlds of well-known celebrities as part of a new social media campaign aimed at encouraging Australian audiences to support and respect creative rights of writers, musicians and artists. Mental As Anything musician and Mambo artist Reg Mombassa, international crime author Tara Moss and The Project […]
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The report from the Code Reviewer on collecting societies’ compliance with the Code of Conduct in 2015–16 is now available. The Copyright Agency and Viscopy have been signatories to the Code of Conduct for copyright collecting societies since its establishment in 2002. Each year, the collecting societies’ compliance with the Code is reviewed by the […]
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The Copyright Agency’s CEO, Adam Suckling, appeared on ABC Radio National’s Books and Arts program yesterday (27 September) to speak about the importance of copyright to creators and the ‘cavalier approach’ of the Productivity Commission to the production of Australian content. Listen to the interview with Michael Cathcart here.
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As the Productivity Commission delivers to Government what’s expected to be a controversial report into Intellectual Property today, research from the US questions the push for relaxing Australia’s copyright rules. The Chief Economist of Washington’s Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal and Economic Public Policy Studies, Dr. George S. Ford, has weighed into Australia’s current copyright […]
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Award-winning children’s book author, Hazel Edwards, writes in today’s Australian about the height of her literary career – the transition of her book into a musical after 38 years. She writes: I am not an economist but I know that if I were unable to make money from my work as an author that I would […]
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The global copyright organisation, IFRRO, passed a resolution at its Asia Pacific Committee meeting recently expressing strong concerns about potential copyright law changes in Australia. The meeting of 21 representatives from 10 countries has written to the Australian Government and parliamentarians, urging them to reject the Productivity Commission’s copyright recommendations should the final report (to be […]
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This is a response to Peter Martin’s comment piece in The Sunday Age on 28 August. Not only has Peter Martin made basic factual errors in his article on copyright but by invoking book burning in Nazi Germany Mr Martin profoundly offends millions of people and shows he has lost perspective in his coverage of […]
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The following is the speech by Kim Williams as delivered at the Melbourne Press Club on Thursday, 17 August 2016. “We are gathered today on the ancestral lands of the Kulin nation and I would like to acknowledge them as the traditional owners. I pay my respects to Elders past and present and to the […]
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Chair of the Copyright Agency, Kim Williams AM, has warned that the next generation of Jimmy Barneses, Magda Szubanksis and George Millers will be in short supply should the recommendations of the Productivity Commission’s draft report into Intellectual Property come to pass. Mr Williams said that unless the Commission retreated from its extreme recommendations, policy […]
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The Copyright Agency attended the Productivity Commission’s Public Hearing on Tuesday 21 June. Below is the full text version of opening remarks from Copyright Agency CEO, Adam Suckling. Productivity Commission Public Hearing Sydney Intellectual Property Arrangements Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this public hearing. The inquiry is an important one. It […]
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Canadian novelist, poet and Executive Director of The Writers’ Union of Canada, John Degen wrote a no-nonsense piece debunking the five lazy lies routinely deployed about copyright. We have republished it with John’s permission. 5 Seriously Dumb Myths About Copyright that the Media Should Stop Repeating By John Degen I get it — copyright is complex and, frankly, not all […]
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The Productivity Commission’s draft report on Australia’s copyright arrangements makes recommendations that would be incredibly detrimental to our national creative talent. The report is overall profoundly disappointing and a major cause for concern, says Copyright Agency Chairman Kim Williams. “I cannot think of another recent report that so seriously misses the main drivers of its area of […]
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The Copyright Agency’s response to the changes proposed by the Productivity Commission has been published in The Australian Financial Review Copyright Agency chief executive Adam Suckling said the introduction of a long-debated US-style “fair use” exception for the use of copyright material would curtail the production of Australian content and destabilise an industry that contributed $7.4 billion to the economy. Read the […]
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Proposals to impose a US-style intellectual property arrangement in Australia made by the Productivity Commission today would pose one of the greatest dangers to Australian-made content in a generation. “A US-style ‘fair use’ arrangement to copyright is out of context in the Australian system and would be a wrecking ball to Australian writers, creators, publishers and […]
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The U.S. Supreme Court has today denied to review an appeal to the case Authors Guild v. Google The decision leaves standing the view that copying and providing access to some millions of copyright protected books for profit-making purposes and without payment to authors is “fair”. “Today authors suffered a colossal loss,” said Authors Guild president Roxana Robinson. […]
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Prof. Paul Goldstein, widely regarded as one of America’s finest legal minds on intellectual property, gave a speech late last year at an IFRRO Forum in Mexico City where he described a “great and worldwide battle (…) between the compensated use of copyrighted works and the free use of these works”. He predicted the outcome of this struggle would […]
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In today’s Australian newspaper, Copyright Agency’s CEO, Adam Suckling, looks at why a change to a US-style copyright system will discourage Australian innovation. The opinion piece ran as part of a larger feature, The Fight Over Fair Use. Adam writes, “There’s no doubt we all love a great story – whatever the medium: books, television, films, plays, […]
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Changes to Australia’s copyright laws to a US-style ‘fair use’ model would ‘undermine incentives to invest, trigger company closures and smash local creativity’, according to a cost-benefit analysis by PwC – as reported in the Australian Financial Review article: Don’t change copyright law, urges PwC. The view is supported by the Copyright Agency, along with other media […]
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First let me say that I am passionate about freedom of speech, freedom of thought and freedom of expression. I also want to laud the digitalisation of media as one of the greatest breakthroughs in history. Until a few years ago, despite being translated into 23 languages, my psychological thrillers were accessible to a relatively […]
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By Copyright Hub CEO, Dominic Young A million years ago I was a lowly worm at the biggest national newspaper in London. My job was to sell content from the newspapers to clients around the world. Typically, someone would phone up, having seen, say, a photo in the paper, and ask if they could buy […]
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The Copyright Agency has awarded its inaugural $40,000 Author Fellowship to Mark Henshaw. The announcement was made at the Australian Society of Authors Congress dinner on Friday, 11 September 2015. According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Mr Henshaw chose a career as a curator at the National Gallery over the penurious writer’s life, despite his first […]
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American best-selling author and former President of the US Authors’ Guild, Scott Turow, addressed the Australian Society of Authors’ Congress recently. He urged authors to stand united to retain their rights and for readers to back them through buying their books. Read this edited version of his engaging and informative speech, which was published in […]
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A world-first innovation aims to simplify online copyright approvals – and it’s all just a click away. Australian rights management and collection society, the not-for-profit Copyright Agency has partnered with UK not-for-profit The Copyright Hub on its global permission technology, launched overnight in the UK by British Intellectual Property Minister Baroness Neville-Rolfe. Chair of the […]
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The Copyright Agency | Viscopy welcomes the Government’s new legislation targeting overseas websites whose main purpose is to allow people to steal creative works. CEO of the Copyright Agency | Viscopy, Murray St Leger, says “We applaud both the major parties’ support for the legislation to shut down these sites which facilitate massive online theft […]
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Copyright Agency | Viscopy has welcomed the Government’s Online Copyright Infringement Discussion Paper, saying reform is long overdue. Chief Executive Murray St Leger said, “It’s well established[1] that Australians overwhelmingly want creators to be paid for the work they distribute online. We want an internet that works for everyone – creators, consumers, tech providers and […]
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