In 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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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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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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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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By Copyright Agency Chair, Kim Williams, AM. In my recent trips to Canberra as Chair of the Copyright Agency there has clearly been a sea change in the view of many (if not all) politicians and policy makers on ‘Big Tech.’ While these companies, of course, provide extraordinary services that are widely used, the image […]
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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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A message from the CEO, Adam Suckling. Dear members, I write to update you on the Copyright Agency’s Future Fund which was established by a 2013 Board decision to safeguard the interests of our members in light of serious threats from proposed changes to Australia’s copyright laws. In the interests of members, the Copyright Agency […]
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On 27 June, the Government passed the Copyright Amendment (Services Providers) Bill 2017 to improve copyright protections for the disability, educational and cultural sectors. The Copyright Agency welcomes the changes, as does Universities Australia, the Council of Australian University Librarians and representatives of schools and people with disabilities. Minister for Communications, Senator Mitch Fifield, said in a […]
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The winner of the Miles Franklin Award in 2017, Josephine Wilson, spoke at the recent Australian Parliamentary Friends of Books and Writers event at Parliament House Canberra on Monday 18 June 2018. The event, which was co-chaired by Senator Linda Reynolds and Graham Perrett MP, introduced four of the six authors who have been shortlisted […]
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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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The Federal Government’s Department of Communications and the Arts has released the draft report of its review of the Code of Conduct for Copyright Collecting Societies. The draft report outlines potential options for updating the Code, “to improve confidence in the collective administration of copyright in Australia”. The Department is now seeking feedback on the […]
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Copyright Agency’s equivalent collecting society in the United Kingdom, the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) has applied to the UK Government to operate a new scheme known as Extended Collective Licensing (ECL). Such schemes enable licensing bodies, that represent a significant number of rightsholders belonging to the same class, to extend their licences to cover unrepresented […]
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On 1 December 2017, the Copyright Agency Board agreed to several beneficial changes to member policies. These changes will: assist early resolution of competing claims by different members to an allocated amount and enable funds held in suspense to be paid; change our member terms for new members to make clear that our licensees can, […]
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Last month, the Copyright Agency’s CEO Adam Suckling attended the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO) World Congress in Tokyo. Apart from participating in the Congress, the trip was an opportunity for the Copyright Agency to share information with Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs, which is considering introducing an educational licensing scheme similar to […]
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MEDIA RELEASE 20 November, 2017 Copyright Agency, the body representing the copyright and licensing interests of thousands of authors, publishers, photographers, media and content creators, has been forced to take the NSW Government to the Copyright Tribunal after it refused to pay a fair rate for using copyright material for five years. Copyright Agency CEO […]
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The Copyright Agency and Viscopy announced their intention to merge earlier this year. This process is now underway and, as such, two Extraordinary General Meetings will be held on 2 November – one for Viscopy members (to vote for the change) and one for Copyright Agency members to vote to amend the Copyright Agency’s constitution […]
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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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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After a successful five-year ‘Services Agreement’ between rights management organisations, the Copyright Agency and Viscopy, the two organisations have agreed in principle to begin the formal arrangements to merge. Between them, the two organisations represent some 43,000 members, ranging from visual artists and illustrators to journalists, cartoonists, surveyors, educational authors and publishers. Viscopy Chair, Tim […]
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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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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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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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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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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 Copyright Agency welcomes the opportunity to review proposed changes to the Copyright Act. We particularly welcome the amendments to simplify the statutory licences for education, which have resulted from a joint proposal from schools, universities, Screenrights and the Copyright Agency. Copyright Agency CEO, Adam Suckling, says, “We support simplifying the education statutory licences, which […]
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The Federal Government has released an ‘exposure draft’ of the Copyright Amendment (Disability Access and Other Measures) Bill 2016 for public comment. The Bill seeks to: streamline the educational statutory licence provisions to make it easier for educational institutions and copyright collecting societies to agree on licensing arrangements for copyright material provide simple, clear rules […]
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Australia’s book industry: authors, publishers, booksellers and rights managers have welcomed the Federal Government’s decision to reduce the Low Value Threshold on offshore purchases to zero from 1 July 2017. The Australian Society of Authors, the Australian Publishers Association, the Australian Booksellers Association, the Copyright Agency and the Australian Council of Small Business called for […]
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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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The Copyright Agency supports moves announced today by the Commonwealth Government to reduce online infringement of copyright. This includes amending the Copyright Act to give creators the statutory power to seek a court order requiring internet service providers (ISPs) to block pirating sites. The Copyright Agency welcomes the goodwill all parties are bringing to the […]
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18 July 2014: The European Union’s White Paper “A Copyright Policy for Creativity and Innovation in the European Union” will now be released later this year. Earlier this year, the European Commission conducted a public consultation on a review of the EU copyright rules. The consultation resulted in more than 11,000 responses. In June 2014, IPKat published an internal draft of […]
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18 July 2014: US artists in the US have been successful in getting a Bill introduced into Congress for an artists’ resale royalty scheme. Australia is one of about 50 countries to have an artists’ resale royalty scheme, whereby a small proportion of the sale price is paid to the artist each time an artwork […]
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18 July 2014: Amendments to Hong Kong’s copyright legislation were introduced on 18 June 2014. The amendments include: a new exclusive right to communicate their works through any mode of electronic transmission new exceptions for: parody, satire, caricature and pastiche; commenting on current events; quotation; temporary reproduction by Online Service Providers (OSPs); media shifting of […]
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A new study released by UK Authors Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) shows that authors’ incomes have fallen since 2005. The study, ‘What Are Words Worth Now?’, was based on a survey of almost 2,500 working writers carried out by Queen Mary College, University of London. The survey found that in 2013, just 11.5% of […]
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On 23 June, Australia signed the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaty for the visually impaired. Australia’s signing of the treaty was announced in a joint media release from the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Julie Bishop), Attorney General (George Brandis), Minister for Trade and Investment (Andrew Robb) and Assistant Minister for Social Services (Mitch Fifield). […]
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The Federal Government is conducting a review of competition policy. The Issues Paper includes questions on intellectual property and parallel importation. Responses are due by 10 June 2014. An issues paper was released on 14 April 2014. There is no reference to intellectual property in the terms of reference, but the issues paper canvases intellectual […]
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In an open letter, 18 creator organisations have asked the European Union to support clarification of the mandate for the committee of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) reviewing international standards for copyright protection. The letter follows the inconclusive ending of the recent meeting of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCRR). […]
Read MoreAustralia is participating in negotiations for a Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) with 11 other countries: Brunei Darussalam, Chile, New Zealand Singapore, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, the USA and Vietnam. As is now common in trade agreements, the TPP is expected to include a chapter on intellectual property (IP). The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade […]
Read MoreOn 2 December 2013, the Attorney General received the final report from the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) on its inquiry into copyright and the digital economy. On 5 December, the Attorney General answered some questions without notice in Parliament. The Attorney General said that the Government would be responding to the report in the new year. […]
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In a recent speech, the Attorney General outlined some of his views on protection for copyright and other intellectual property. In his speech to the Australian International Movie Convention on 14 October 2013, the Attorney General made the following comments about intellectual property: As a lawyer and as a policy-maker, it is my strong belief […]
Read MoreGreens Senator Scott Ludlum introduced a Private Member’s Bill last week that would amend the Copyright Act in three areas: introduction of an exception allowing ‘fair use’, similar to the exception operating in the US extension of the ‘safe harbour’ provisions for internet service providers to other online service providers, including educational institutions provisions that […]
Read MoreAs part of its inquiry into copyright and the digital economy, the Australian Law Reform Commission has launched an online discussion board on when it is ‘fair’ to use someone else’s content without their permission. In its Discussion Paper released on 5 June, the ALRC proposed that Australian copyright legislation be amended to introduce a […]
Read MoreOn 5 June 2013, the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) released its Discussion Paper on copyright and the digital economy. In the Discussion Paper, the ALRC has proposed some radical changes to Australian copyright law, which would have far-reaching consequences for Australian content creators, and for people using copyright content (including teachers and people with […]
Read MoreUniversities Australia (UA) has made a supplementary submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) inquiry into copyright and the digital economy. The primary purpose of the submission is to ‘elaborate’ UA’s argument that the statutory licence for education should be repealed. It sets out four models which it says are alternatives to the statutory […]
Read MoreThe NSW Government has made a submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC), in connection with its inquiry into copyright and the digital economy. The submission (available here) is primarily about the statutory licence for governments in section 183 of the Copyright Act, but also addresses the library exceptions and other free exceptions. SUMMARY […]
Read MoreIn June 2013, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is convening a Diplomatic Conference to conclude a treaty to facilitate access to content by the visually impaired. Australia has world-leading copyright provisions to assist the visually impaired. Copyright Agency is appointed by the Australian Government to manage the statutory licence that allows the making of […]
Read MoreThe school sector’s supplementary submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) was published on the ALRC’s website today. Background on ALRC inquiry here. The school sector’s supplementary submission is a largely a response to the supplementary submission from Copyright Agency | Viscopy, and addresses three issues: rationale for the school sector’s call for repeal […]
Read MoreOn 26 April, the UK Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act received given Royal Assent, and came into law. The Act includes a number of key changes to UK copyright law. The copyright reforms in the Act relate to: licensing of ‘orphan works’ extended collective licensing regulation of copyright collecting societies The first two issues are […]
Read MoreOn 24 April, the Federal Court awarded damages to the family of Schapelle Corby, for unauthorised publication of their photographs in a book about her. THE CASE The court’s decision concerned both infringement of copyright and moral rights arising from the inclusion of five photographs in the book. The book was written by a Fairfax […]
Read MoreOn 24 April, the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee announced a comprehensive review of US copyright law. In his announcement of the review the Chairman referred to the recent testimony to the Committee of the Register of Copyright, Maria Pallante (see blogpost here). The Committee will: …hold a comprehensive series of hearings on U.S. […]
Read MoreThe Copyright Agency has lodged a supplementary submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC), which is conducting an inquiry into copyright and the digital economy. Download the ALRC follow-up Submission. It is also published on the ALRC’s website here. There is more information on the ALRC inquiry here, including links to the ALRC inquiry homepage, […]
Read MoreThe decision of the US Supreme Court on 19 March 2013 in Kirtsaeng v Wiley has sparked divided responses. The decision allows importation into the US of books produced legitimately in other countries. See overview of decision, and comparison to position in Australia, here. Comments from publishers: Association of American Publishers Association (AAP) statement on […]
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On 14 November, Judge Denny Chin held that Google’s digitisation of millions of books was ‘fair use’ under US copyright law. The decision (available here) is the latest development in the protracted legal process since authors and publishers initially took legal action against Google in 2005. Authors’ and publishers’ representatives reached a ‘class action’ settlement […]
Read MoreThe government released its National Cultural Policy, Creative Australia, on 13 March. The policy is an outcome of the Government’s 2020 summit in 2008, and the first national cultural policy since Creative Nation in 2004. The policy sets out five goals covering covering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures; cultural diversity; the central role of […]
Read MoreAs part of its inquiry into copyright and the digital economy, the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) received 283 submissions in response to the Issues Paper released on 20 August 2012. All of these submissions are published on the ALRC website. The main submissions seeking changes that would adversely affect the interests of Copyright Agency|Viscopy members […]
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Minister for the Arts, the Hon Simon Crean MP released a discussion paper for the National Cultural Policy on 11 August. Consultation on a new National Cultural Policy began in 2009 and has involved discussions with the arts and culture sector, creative industries, the general public and government. These discussions have helped to develop the […]
Read MoreOn 14 December 2010, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Senator Stephen Conroy released a draft Terms of Reference for a Convergence Review to be held in 2011. What is ‘convergence’? Over the past 15 years, there has been a range of technological developments in telecommunications, radio, television and the internet. Although […]
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