Issue 41 - September 2006
AGD e-News on Copyright
Welcome to the third edition of the copyright newsletter of the Copyright Law Branch of the Attorney-General's Department for 2006.
An HTML version of this newsletter with formatting and links is also available online at http://www.ag.gov.au/enews. You may forward this newsletter to friends and colleagues. When quoting from this newsletter, please provide an acknowledgment of source. Information on how to subscribe or unsubscribe is included at the end of the newsletter. e-News editor: Lauren Henschke, lauren.henschkeATag.gov.au
**************
WHAT’S IN THIS ISSUE?
1. Copyright Amendment Bill 2006
2. Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Intellectual Property Symposium – January 2007
3. Australian Institute of Criminology Research Project on Intellectual Property Crime
4. Free Trade Agreement Negotiations
5. Visit to Australia by the National Copyright Administration of China Go to the end of the e-News for answers to the following questions:
• Who do I contact in the Copyright Law Branch?
• Where can I get more information about copyright?
• How can I subscribe to this newsletter?
**************
1. Copyright Amendment Bill 2006
The Attorney-General intends to introduce the Copyright Amendment Bill 2006 into the Parliament next month and to refer the Bill to the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs for consideration following its introduction.
The Bill will contain amendments to implement the outcome of various reviews the Government has conducted including the ‘Fair Use and Other Copyright Exceptions Review’, the review of the 2001 Digital Agenda reforms, the subscription broadcast review and the harmonisation of criminal law provisions with the Criminal Code Act 1995 and Australian Government criminal law policy. It will contain amendments to implement Australia’s remaining obligations under the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement in relation to technological protection measures (TPMs). The Bill will also contain other initiatives that the Government has been working on such as measures to improve Australia’s copyright enforcement regime and amendments to implement various reforms concerning the Copyright Tribunal.
An exposure draft of the TPM amendments and regulations was recently released and further exposure drafts of various parts of the Bill have now also been released. These exposure drafts set out proposed amendments covering the new copyright exceptions, the digital agenda review amendments, new enforcement provisions and the encoded broadcast amendments.
These parts of the Bill are being exposed prior to introduction and referral to the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs to enable more time for interested persons to consider the proposed amendments. The due date for submissions to the Senate Committee will be advised after 10 October 2006 and will most likely be in the second half of October. If parties wish to make submissions to the Department prior to that date they may do so. Submissions to the Department other than those made in confidence will be copied to the Committee once the Bill has been formally referred for its consideration. The Government will consider the Senate Committee’s recommendations and make any necessary technical amendments to the Bill after it has been introduced to Parliament.
Submissions to the Department should be sent by e-mail to the following address:
copyrightlawbranchATag.gov.au
and can be sent by post to:
Gabrielle Mackey
Principal Legal Officer
Copyright Law Branch
Attorney-General’s Department
Robert Garran Offices
National Circuit
BARTON ACT 2600
Enquiries relating to exception amendments should be directed to: Norman Bowman, tel: (02) 6250 6324, e-mail: norman.bowmanATag.gov.au
Enquiries relating to digital agenda review amendments should be directed to: Gabrielle Mackey, tel: (02) 6250 6608, e-mail: gabrielle.mackeyATag.gov.au
Enquiries relating to enforcement amendments should be directed to: Sam Ahlin, tel: (02) 6250 6095, e-mail: sam.ahlinATag.gov.au
Enquiries relating to encoded broadcast amendments should be directed to: Gabrielle Mackey, tel: (02) 6250 6608, e-mail: gabrielle.mackeyATag.gov.au
To access all exposure drafts of the amendments and accompanying explanatory material click here.
2. Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Intellectual Property Symposium – January 2007
In 2007, the Australian Government will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. As part of this forum, Australia will host a meeting of the APEC Intellectual Property Experts Group in January 2007 in Canberra. This will be followed by an International Intellectual Property (IP) Symposium to be held at the Hilton Hotel in Sydney between 28-31 January 2007.
The Symposium will be a significant IP event of 2007 in the Asia-Pacific region. It should draw together more than 700 influential IP managers, practitioners and policy makers from the private sector, government, multilateral agencies, research institutions, academia and the media to share ideas on regional IP developments.
IP Australia is coordinating the IP Symposium in consultation with other Government agencies including the Attorney-General’s Department, industry and IP professionals.
Further details on this Symposium can be found at the following Internet link: http://www.tradingideas.org/index.php
3. Australian Institute of Criminology Research Project on Intellectual Property Crime
As announced in the May 2006 e-News, the Attorney-General’s Department and IP Australia have commissioned the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC), Australia's pre-eminent national crime and criminal justice research agency, to conduct a study in relation to intellectual property (IP) crime and enforcement in Australia. The research will identify options for the Government’s response to piracy and counterfeiting in the future.
The AIC has been asked to conduct research into the following:
• What kind of IP crime is affecting Australia (ie what is the volume of counterfeit/pirated goods on the market) and what aspect of IP crime is impacting the most (eg small-scale market distribution, organised crime involvement, cross-border importation or domestic manufacture, online distribution of music, film, television and business software products)?
• What official statistics are available on IP crime (ie how much infringing product is detected by Customs, what types and level of IP crime are reported to police, how is this classified, what proportion is acted on by police and referred to other agencies, how many prosecutions are undertaken, and what are the results)? What are the gaps in these statistics and what data needs to be collected?
• Are there any verifiable links between IP crime and other organised crime activities (eg drug importation and trafficking, arms smuggling, financing of terrorism etc.) and groups known to be involved in such criminal enterprises?
• What is the economic impact of IP crime on small business, industry and employment in Australia? (eg including perceptions of the illegality and seriousness of buying infringing or “knock-off” products)?
• How are calculations of the economic impact on industry made by industry and what is the veracity of these figures? Are there independent statistics available, and if so, how do they compare?
• How does IP crime affect regional communities and Indigenous Australians? ( ie economic impact on local cinemas – social impact on community, artistic works and counterfeit goods)
• What other research has been done in this area that is relevant to the present questions of inquiry both nationally and internationally (this would include an extensive literature search)?
• What is known about the effectiveness of the Australian IP (and other) legislation in preventing IP crime (eg what effects do increased penalties, simpler proof provisions for subsistence and ownership, and changes to “fair dealing” and other defences have, and what do international legislative comparisons suggest by way of promising legislative reform)? The AIC is due to complete its work for the Government on 31 October 2006.
4. Free Trade Agreement Negotiations
The Copyright Law Branch continues to work closely with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and other agencies on the intellectual property issues in relation to the three Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) Australia is currently negotiating.
This year, negotiating rounds have been held with China in February, May and September, with Malaysia in March, July and September and ASEAN and New Zealand in April and July. Further negotiations with ASEAN and New Zealand will occur in September.
On 21 June 2006, the Government announced that it would give close consideration to the Gulf Co-operation Council’s (GCC) wish to negotiate a GCC wide FTA with Australia. This follows a decision by the United Arab Emirates that the Australian bilateral FTA negotiations with them be incorporated into the GCC negotiations.
Australia is also investigating its economic relationship with both Japan and Mexico and the possibility of negotiating an FTA with either of these countries.
Information in relation to Australia’s existing FTAs (with New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and the United States) and the negotiations currently underway with China, Malaysia and New Zealand and the 10 ASEAN countries is available on the DFAT website. Interested persons can also subscribe to DFAT’s free email newsletters that provide updated information on each of the current FTAs. A list of FTA-related websites follows:
• Website on concluded FTAs: http://www.fta.gov.au
• Newsletters on Australia’s FTAs with the United States and Thailand: http://www.fta.gov.au/Default.aspx?ArticleID=1253
From 21 to 25 August 2006 the Department hosted a high level delegation from the National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC). The NCAC is responsible for copyright administration and enforcement in China.
The delegation visited Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne for a range of meetings covering topics of interest to them including collective management of copyright, digital copyright issues and legislative developments in Australia including the proposed new enforcement provisions. While in Sydney the delegation met with the Attorney-General. In Canberra the Department hosted a roundtable discussion to which a number of different Government agencies attended.
The visit provided a useful opportunity for information exchange and further strengthened the established relationship between the Department and the NCAC.
**************
WHO DO I CONTACT IN THE COPYRIGHT LAW BRANCH?
International and Projects Section
- Co-ordination of work on the implementation of the copyright aspects of the Australia
- US Free Trade Agreement
- Australia’s participation in WIPO activities
- Broadcast royalties for sound recordings
- CLRC Report into the Jurisdiction and Procedures of the Copyright Tribunal
- Collective administration of copyright
- CLRC Report on Crown Copyright
- Ergas Report
- Review of intellectual property legislation under the Competition Principles Agreement
- Fair Use and Copyright Exceptions Review (contact: Norman Bowman, tel: (02) 6250 6324; email: norman.bowmanATag.gov.au)
- Film directors' rights
- Hague Convention work
- International copyright regulations
- Moral rights - Performers' rights
- Term of copyright protection
- Statutory licences and related issues Contact: Chris Creswell, tel: (02) 6250 6312; e-mail: chris.creswellATag.gov.au
New Technologies Section
- Australia-US Free Trade Agreement obligations relating to technological protection measures (contact: Peter Treyde, tel: (02) 6250 6788, e-mail: peter.treydeATag.gov.au)
- Carriage service providers scheme
- Circuit Layouts Act - Copyright and designs overlap
- Copyright Tribunal appointments
- CLRC Report on Copyright and Contract
- CLRC Reports into Simplification of the Copyright Act
- Government response to Digital Agenda Review
- Government use of copyright - Review of legal deposit
- Review of pay tv piracy Contact: Gabrielle Mackey, tel (02) 6250 6608; e-mail: gabrielle.mackeyATag.gov.au
Trade and Enforcement Section
- Australian Institute of Criminology research project
- Bilateral and regional copyright issues (including proposed new free trade agreements and APEC work)
- Copyright and trade
- Copyright aspects of other intellectual property legislation
- Enforcement issues - IP and protection of arts and cultural expressions of Indigenous people
- WTO copyright issues
- Review of the criminal offence provisions Contact: Fiona Phillips, tel (02) 6250 6658, e-mail: fiona.phillipsATag.gov.au
Commonwealth Copyright Section
- ANAO report on intellectual property policy and practices in Government
- Commonwealth Copyright Administration - http://www.ag.gov.au/cca
- Government practice in management of copyright materials, including copyright in IT systems
- Whole of Government approach to intellectual property management Contact: Peter Ostergaard, tel (02) 6250 6380, e-mail: peter.ostergaardATag.gov.au
The head of the Copyright Law Branch is Helen Daniels, Assistant Secretary. Ms Daniels can be contacted on (02) 6250 6313, e-mail: helen.danielsATag.gov.au.
Tim MacKinnon is responsible for copyright matters in the office of the Attorney-General, the Hon Mr Philip Ruddock MP, please phone: (02) 6277 7300.
For general enquiries telephone (02) 6250 6313; fax: (02) 6250 5929; e-mail: copyrightlawbranch@ag.gov.au.
**************
WHERE CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION ABOUT COPYRIGHT?
The Copyright Law Branch website is at http://www.ag.gov.au/copyright.
The Copyright Law Branch produces a booklet entitled Copyright Law in Austra lia: A Short Guide. To obtain copies of the guide please phone (02) 6250 6313. The updated version is available online at http://www.ag.gov.au/copyright/shortguide.
Past publications including discussion papers and fact sheets on a variety of issues, are also available online here. The Copyright Law Branch does not give legal advice to members of the public.
The Copyright Law Branch can provide federal Government departments and agencies with legal advice on copyright law matters.
Individual creators with a specific copyright inquiry may be able to obtain advice from the Australian Copyright Council tel: 02 9318 1788. See also the Copyright Council website at http://www.copyright.org.au/.
For information on patents, trade marks and designs contact IP Australia on tel: 1300 651 010 or access information online at http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/. Reports of the Copyright Law Review Committee are available at http://www.ag.gov.au/clrc.
**************
HOW CAN I SUBSCRIBE TO/ UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS NEWSLETTER?
Subscribe: You may subscribe to the e-News by using the form at: http://www.ag.gov.au/enews_subscribe
You may also subscribe by sending an e-mail to lyris@lstsvr1.ag.gov.au. Leave the 'subject line' of your e-mail blank and include in the body [ie, the text part] of your message:
Subscribe enews:
Please note that e-mail addresses will only be used for the purpose of subscribing to e-News and will not be added to any other mailing lists unless you specifically request that this be done.
Unsubscribe:
You may unsubscribe by using the form at: http://www.ag.gov.au/enews_unsubscribe or by sending an email to lyris@lstsvr1.ag.gov.au, leaving the 'subject line' blank and including in the body of your message:
unsubscribe enews
The above form can also be accessed by clicking 'subscribe' on the following page: http://www.ag.gov.au/enews.
We would also like to hear from you if you have any feedback or comments on this newsletter. Send an e-mail to copyrightlawbranch@ag.gov.au.