On 19 December 2025, the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee recommended that the Copyright Amendment Bill 2025 be passed. The Committee’s report is here. If passed, the Bill will: introduce a scheme that limits remedies for infringement against a person who was unable to identify and locate a rightsholder after a ‘diligent search’ […]
Read MoreOn 19 December 2025, the Productivity Commission (PC) released final reports from its inquiry into productivity. Our submissions to the Productivity Commission are here. The PC’s report on Harnessing data and digital technology includes the following recommendation: Recommendation 2.1 A review of Australian copyright settings and the impact of AI The Australian Government should monitor […]
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Copyright Agency congratulates the Attorney General Michelle Rowland and the Albanese Government on the announcement today that the Government will not be watering down the copyright protections that provide essential support for Australian authors, artists and publishers to thrive in the age of AI. In resisting the pressure from multinational AI developers for copyright exemptions […]
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The latest inquiry into the adoption of AI in Australia has voiced strong support for Australian creators and called out the ‘unprecedented theft’ of their work by offshore AI developers. On 26 November, the Select Committee on Adopting Artificial Intelligence released its final report. The Committee was established to ‘inquire into and report on the opportunities […]
Read MoreOn 21 June, the Data and Digital Ministers Meeting (comprising Ministers from the Commonwealth and each State and Territory) released the National Framework for the Assurance of Artificial Intelligence in Government. You can see the Framework here and related documentation here. The Framework sets out how Australian governments should align their practices to Australia’s 8 AI […]
Read MoreA Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society has been established inquire into and report on the influence and impacts of social media on Australian society. Its terms of reference include: (a) the use of age verification to protect Australian children from social media; (b) the decision of Meta to abandon deals […]
Read MoreThe House Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training is conducting an inquiry into automated decision making and machine learning techniques in the workplace. The Terms of Reference (here) include: the benefits for productivity, skills development, career progression and job creation in Australia; the role of business software and regulatory technology (‘Reg Tech’) in improving […]
Read MoreOn 11 April, the Attorney General announced that the Government would introduce amendments to the Copyright Act in relation to remote learning. You can see the announcement here. The amendments are intended to address perceived uncertainties by some in the school sector regarding remote learning by school students. Remote learning has been in place in […]
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The Attorney-General’s Department has published the list of members of the Copyright and AI Reference Group (CAIRG) and of the CAIRG Steering Committee. You can see the 61 members of the Reference Group and the 20 members of the Steering Committee here. Copyright Agency is a member of the Steering Committee, as are Australian Society […]
Read MoreOn 15 March, publishers who successfully sued Internet Archive (IA) in relation to its ‘controlled digital lending’ program filed their brief opposing IA’s appeal. There is information about the case, and the publishers’ position, in the statement from the Association of American Publishers here. The District Court’s March 2023 decision, finding that IA had infringed […]
Read MoreOn 4 March 2024, the Australian Government announced its consultation process on protecting First Nations traditional knowledge and cultural expressions. You can see the announcement here, and more information on the Office for the Arts website here. The development of the legislation is a commitment under the National Cultural Policy, Revive: a place for every story, […]
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On 25 February, the Government released the Australian Universities Accord final report. You can see the full report here, the summary report here, and the Education Minister’s announcement here. The report contains 47 recommendations, with a strong focus on equity and increased opportunities for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The first recommendation is that the objective […]
Read MoreIn January, 12 organisations representing Canadian writers and publishers issued a joint statement on copyright and Generative artificial intelligence (AI). It opposes any changes to Canada’s copyright legislation to introduce new exceptions to train large language models for AI, or to give copyright protection to AI-generated products. You can see the statement here. You can […]
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On 2 February, the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee released its report on large language models and generative AI. You can see the Executive Summary here and the full report here. Chapter 8 of the report deals with copyright issues (here). The Executive Summary says: We have even deeper concerns about the Government’s […]
Read MoreThe NSW Government released its 10-year Arts, Culture and Creative Industries Policy, ‘Creative Communities’, in December 2023. You can see a summary of the policy here, the full policy here, and the Minister’s announcement here. Copyright Agency made a brief submission to consultation on the policy (here). The NSW Government endorses Revive, the national cultural […]
Read MoreOn 17 December, the Government announced that it would implement the five recommendations in Treasury’s report of its review of the news media bargaining code. Information about the review is available here. A summary of the Code is set out on page 4 of the review’s consultation paper here. The Government’s response is available here. […]
Read MoreOn 4 December 2023, the Attorney General convened the fourth and final copyright roundtable of a series commenced in February 2023. You can see our earlier posts on the roundtables here and here. The roundtables considered five issues: orphan works, quotation, remote learning, definition of ‘broadcast’, and artificial intelligence (AI). Copyright Agency participated in each […]
Read MoreIn February 2023, the Attorney General commenced a copyright roundtable process. The first meeting identified 5 issues for review: orphan works, quotation, remote learning, definition of ‘broadcast’, and artificial intelligence (AI). The sessions in the second roundtable considered orphan works, quotation and remote learning. Our post on the second roundtable is here. The sessions in […]
Read MoreThe Department of Industry published a discussion paper on Safe and responsible AI in Australia in June 2023, and sought views by 4 August. See our earlier news post here. The Department received more than 500 submissions. Submissions are now available online here. This is one of several government inquiries into AI. Others include: Artificial […]
Read MoreThe House Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training is conducting an inquiry into and report on the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in the Australian education system. You can see the announcement of the inquiry here, terms of reference for the inquiry here, and the submissions to the inquiry here. You can view […]
Read MoreThe Attorney-General’s Department (AGD) has published a High Level Summary of the Second Roundtable on Copyright, and Issues Papers on each of the topics discussed at the Roundtable: see here. The topics were: Orphan Works; Remote Learning; and Quotation. Copyright Agency participated in the Roundtable on each of the three topics. The Department will convene […]
Read MoreThe Department of Industry is seeking view on Artificial Intelligence (AI) by 26 July 2023. You can visit the Department’s webpage for the consultation here, download the Department’s Discussion Paper here, and make a submission here. Copyright Agency will be making a submission. If you would like assistance with making a submission, please contact the […]
Read MoreThe Federal Government launched its new Cultural Policy, Revive, on 30 January. The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, and the Minister for the Arts, Tony Burke, both spoke at the launch. The policy The policy includes recognition of the fundamental role of the copyright system in supporting Australia’s creative industries and workers: The Government […]
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We have amended our Distribution Policy in relation to unpaid allocations (‘rollovers’). From July 2022 we will be including rollovers in distributions of licence fees, rather than using them to pay expenses. The net amount for distributions will be materially the same.
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The Department for the Arts is inviting submissions on a new National Cultural Policy and anyone interested in our nation’s arts, entertainment and cultural sector is encouraged to have their say.
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Copyright Agency is a signatory to the Code of Conduct for Collecting Societies, and reports annually on its compliance with the Code (see here). Members and licensees are invited each year to make submissions to the Annual Code Reviewer (a former Federal Court judge) about Copyright Agency’s compliance with the Code (see here for the call for submissions for the review of compliance for 2020–21).
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As reported in February’s Creative Licence (here), the government is seeking feedback on an ‘exposure draft’ (ED) of potential copyright changes. The ED is just for consultation, and does not represent the government’s final position on legislation for introduction into Parliament.
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As we reported in last November’s Creative Licence (here), a Triennial Review of the Code of Conduct for Copyright Collecting Societies is currently in train (see here). The public meeting on 7 February 2022 was attended by representatives of each of the copyright collecting societies (including Copyright Agency), Copyright Advisory Group to the Australian Education Senior Officials Committee (CAG), and Universities Australia (UA).
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In late December, the Australian Government released a discussion paper and ‘exposure draft’ seeking feedback on potential changes to copyright legislation. Feedback is due by 25 February: see here.
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On 13 August, the government announced some proposed changes to the Copyright Act. We will keep members informed of further developments.
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