Productivity Commission’s Draft IP Report Suggests Wide-Ranging Reforms To Copyright and Patent Law

“As with many other reforms, those who seek to gain from IP protections are concentrated and have actively sought to shape policy for their benefit, while those who stand to lose are dispersed and less aware of what is at stake, and so are less vocal and influential in policy debates.

The Commission’s recommendations have sought to redress this imbalance. Improving Australia’s IP arrangements will primarily benefit consumers by improving access to new and cheaper goods and services and reducing unintentional or accidental infringement.”

“The best antidote to copyright infringement is accessible and competitively-priced online content, not draconian penalties and big brother enforcement.”

• Australia’s copyright system has expanded over time, often with no transparent, evidence-based policy analysis demonstrating the need for, or quantum of, new rights… While hard to pinpoint an optimal copyright term, a more reasonable estimate would be closer to 15 to 25 years after creation; considerably less than 70 years after death.
• The Australian Government should implement the recommendation made in the House of Representatives Committee report At What Cost? IT pricing and the Australia tax to amend the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) to make clear that it is not an infringement for consumers to circumvent geoblocking technology. The Australian Government should seek to avoid any international agreements that would prevent or ban consumers from circumventing geoblocking technology.
• The Australian Government should repeal parallel import restrictions for books in order for the reform to take effect no later than the end of 2017.
• The Australian Government should amend the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) (Copyright Act) to replace the current fair dealing exceptions with a broad exception for fair use. The new exception should contain a clause outlining that the objective of the exception is to ensure Australia’s copyright system targets only those circumstances where infringement would undermine the ordinary exploitation of a work at the time of the infringement. The Copyright Act should also make clear that the exception does not preclude use of copyright material by third parties on behalf of users.
• The Australian Government should amend ss. 7(2) and 7(3) of the Patents Act 1990 (Cth) such that an invention is taken to involve an inventive step if, having regard to the prior art base, it is not obvious to a person skilled in the relevant art.
• The Australian Government should abolish the innovation patent system.
• The Australian Government should amend s. 18 of the Patents Act 1990 (Cth) to explicitly exclude business methods and software from being patentable subject matter.
• The Australian Government should reform extensions of patent term for pharmaceuticals such that they are calculated based only on the time taken for regulatory approval by the Therapeutic Goods Administration over and above one year.