New Copyright Bill Proposes To Improve Access; Sets New Copyright Period For Unpublished Material
Monday 27 March 2017 @ 11.56 a.m. | IP & Media
The Federal Government has introduced the Copyright Amendment (Disability Access and Other Measures) Bill 2017 into Parliament. The Bill contains a number of provisions designed to improve access to copyrighted material for people with disabilities, to reform and modernise library, archive and educational institution exemptions, and to align the term of protection for unpublished material with the term of protection for published material. The Bill was introduced into the House of Representatives on 22 March 2017 by Minister for Urban Infrastructure, Mr Paul Fletcher.
Introducing the Bill, Mr Fletcher said:
“The Copyright Amendment (Disability Access and Other Measures) Bill 2017 responds to views expressed by copyright stakeholders. They have said that reform is needed to address outdated, prescriptive and overly complex provisions of the Copyright Act. They also said that these provisions impact unfairly on the ability of libraries, archives and educational institutions, and persons with a disability, to access and use copyright material. The bill is designed to be technology- and format-neutral so that these important reforms will remain relevant in an environment of rapid technological change.”
Safe harbour provisions removed from Bill
The Bill was originally planned to include provisions that would have expanded Australia’s copyright safe harbour provisions to online intermediaries, protecting entities such as Google and Facebook from being responsible for infringing material that may be uploaded by their users. However, The Australian reported that this part of the Bill was removed, following a backlash from rights holders. Communications Minister Mitch Fifield told The Australian:
“Provisions relating to safe harbour were removed from the bill before its introduction to enable the government to further consider feedback received on this proposal whilst not delaying the passage of other important reforms.”
Disability access
The Bill introduces an exemption for organisations assisting persons with a disability that allows them to use copyrighted material “for the sole purpose of assisting one or more persons with a disability to access the material in a format that the person or persons require because of the disability” and that the material cannot be obtained in the necessary format “within a reasonable time at an ordinary commercial price”.
In his second reading speech, Mr Fletcher noted that the provisions reflect Australia’s ratification of the Marrakesh Treaty and “bring Australia in line with global best practice to provide a flexible copyright framework that recognises the various ways people with a disability use accessible format content.”
Library and archive exemptions
The Bill also introduces exemptions that allow libraries and archives greater flexibility in determining how best to preserve the material in their collections – for example, making multiple copies of material in a format in line with best practice preservation policy. The Bill will also include provisions expressly allowing members of the public to access copyright materials held in the articles for research purposes.
Educational statutory licensing provisions
The Bill also makes a number of changes to the educational statutory licence provisions. In his second reading speech, Mr Fletcher said this includes “consolidating and simplifying the existing provisions relating to educational use of works and broadcasts and providing greater flexibility for educational institutions and collecting societies in their negotiations for licensing and access arrangements for copyright material.”
Copyright in unpublished material
The Bill also contains provisions that will align the terms of protection for unpublished materials with published materials. Currently, unpublished copyright material remain in copyright in perpetuity. The Bill creates a new standard term of 70 years from the death of the author, regardless of whether the work is published or not. Where the identity of the author is unknown, copyright will exist for 70 years from when it was made. If the work is made public within 50 years of being created, the copyright term will be 70 years from the date of first publication.
These changes are proposed to commence on 1 January 2019, and will apply to copyright material that remains unpublished at that date.
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Sources:
Copyright Amendment (Disability Access and Other Measures) Bill 2017 (Cth), Explanatory Memorandum and Second Reading Speech - available from TimeBase's LawOne service
