Protecting Australia's Creators


Copyright

The objectives of the Commonwealth Government's copyright policy is to achieve a balance between:

Our copyright regime will assist in creating a positive environment for investment in content for the emerging communications services.

Australia's copyright industries grew by 4.2 per cent over the five years to 1992 compared to a rise of 2.7 per cent in GDP. This strong growth underlines the vast potential for copyright industries to contribute to economic development. Currently Australia is a net importer of copyright material. To encourage the growth of creative product we must strengthen and modernise our copyright structure.

Fair compensation for the use of creative work is a fundamental element of the cultural policy. Effective copyright law is essential to the economic independence and professional status of creators and their participation in new information industries.

Copyright is a legal framework for compensation to creators. It protects the rights of authors of original literary, musical, dramatic and artistic works and gives similar protection to creators of sound recordings, films and broadcasts. It provides the reward for innovation and creativity and means that more creative people can operate as professionals, are more self-reliant and are less dependent on government financial support. It heightens respect for creative artists and their art.

Government should provide a legal framework which will promote and protect investment in industries such as film, music, publishing, computer software and multi-media.

The Government will comply with international treaty obligations to grant protection to creators, owners and users of copyright.

Australia has obligations under several international conventions, the most important of these being the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and the Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations. These have been crucial in defining Australia's copyright system.

As part of the 1993 major international trade agreement of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) known as the Uruguay Round, Australia became a signatory to the first ever multilateral trade agreement covering the cultural industries. The Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPs), which is to be administered by the newly formed World Trade Organisation, augments existing major treaties in this area.

For many years Australia has been at the forefront of copyright protection. For example, Australia's Copyright Act 1968 won international recognition for its far-sighted reforms.

The challenges of new technology and delivery methods have the potential to seriously threaten investment in, and the creation and protection of copyright. The Commonwealth has moved quickly to reform the Copyright Act to strengthen its ability to meet these challenges.

The Government will ensure that copyright protection adapts to changes in technological, commercial and other circumstances. Copyright will continue to operate as an effective incentive and reward for creative and intellectual activity.

The Government recognises that copyright must adapt to emerging technological and commercial realities. In 1994 it established the Copyright Convergence Group (CCG) to examine how the Copyright Act should be changed to meet the needs of the broadband and digitised environment of the near future.

The CCG found that `the Copyright Act as it stands is no longer adequate to deal with the new communications universe that we are now entering'. It found that the rapid development of technologies to deliver broadband services meant that the Act should be amended to provide for a right to make transmissions to the public, which would replace varied rights which no longer adequately protected creative material. The CCG's suggested reforms would make the Act technologically neutral in line with the Broadcasting Services Act 1992.

Australia will retain a strong copyright system and will be a pioneer in the development of copyright legislation in the new communications environment. The Government will accept the recommendations of the CCG.

Australia will introduce an electronic transmission right.

The Government also gives in principle support to a broad-based distribution right which is presently being refined in discussions to establish a possible protocol to the Berne Convention being conducted by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). A distribution right would complement an electronic transmission right.

A range of copyright reforms are to be implemented pursuant to legislation to be introduced in 1995 to ensure that Australian legislation complies with GATT/TRIPS.

The Copyright Law Review Committee will be required to conduct a review of the Copyright Act to simplify it. The Committee will also be asked to examine the implementation of a distribution right for tangible copyright material to complement an electronic transmission right, and to determine whether the convergence of technologies warrants legislative change to the currently defined works in the Copyright Act.

The Government will refer to the Copyright Law Review Committee a broad examination of options to develop a more simple, effective and flexible legislative framework which can adapt better to increasingly rapid changes of technology and convergence of various art forms as a first step in this process.

In addition to strengthening copyright legislation within Australia, the Government is playing an active role in negotiating better copyright protection in other countries. This includes copyright development through multilateral agreements, notably under the auspices of WIPO and TRIPS.

By signing bilateral treaties, the Government is also encouraging neighbouring countries in the Asian region to provide more effective copyright regimes, including sanctions against piracy. This will enable Australian creative products, especially sound recordings and books, to be exported more widely in the region.

Consideration will be given to removing provisions and distinctions in the Copyright Act which are no longer relevant or appropriate - such as the provisions which allow reproductions to be made of publicly displayed sculpture and crafts without the permission of the artist. The Government will review the protection given to the visual arts, including photography, through the Copyright Act.

The Copyright Law Review Committee will examine protection of copyright in the new communications environment.

The Copyright Convergence Group was set up to examine the urgent needs for reform of the Act. These concerns are the subject of recommendations for legislative amendment. The Government recognises a bigger challenge for protecting copyright material in the new digitised communications environment. Traditional concepts of copyright protection rely on the purchase of a physical product like a book or CD. The future brings easy transmission of material on an on-line or other broadband system.

The Government will refer the issue of protection of copyright in the broadband environment to the Copyright Law Review Committee.

copyright collecting agencies

Collective administration of copyright can allow individual creators to maximise returns from the exploitation of copyright material. Where appropriate the Government will provide legislative and other support for collective administration.

Australia has a number of copyright collecting societies which administer copyright and similar rights on behalf of a group of owners, and collect and distribute the income from the use of those rights. The major societies include those in the music and performing arts industries, the audio-visual sector and literature. The collective administration of copyright is often the most effective method of managing copyright both for the owners of rights and for those who need access to copyright material.

The Government will aid the establishment of a collecting society for the visual arts with financial support, and examine those provisions of the Copyright Act relevant to the visual arts.

To ensure that the collective administration of copyright operates effectively, in 1994 the Commonwealth established a Review of Australian Copyright Collecting Societies.

the copyright convergence group (ccg)

The CCG was established in January 1994 to examine the impact of new technologies on the Copyright Act 1968 (the Act). The CCG's terms of reference asked it to consider the adequacy and appropriateness of protection under the the Act for broadcasts, electronic transmissions and the underlying copyright materials used in those transmissions.

The Group assessed the rapid convergence of the telecommunications, broadcasting, computing, entertainment and information industries and the likely implications for users and owners of copyright materials. Fundamental changes are occurring in the delivery and use of copyright materials. The Government will support these developments while providing appropriate protection for copyright owners.

The examination undertaken by the Group was one of the first of its kind in the world. Its findings will put Australia at the forefront of intellectual property law reform.

The Group supported a general right of transmission to the public which would replace the existing diffusion rights and supplement the broadcast right.

protecting the cultural heritage of aboriginal and torres strait islander peoples

Australia's reconciliation with our indigenous peoples demands recognition of concerns that the Copyright Act does not adequately address.

The Minister for Communications and the Arts, the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and the Minister for Justice are reviewing the protection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural materials having regard to the Copyright Act 1968.

Failure to provide adequate protection in the past has resulted in wide-spread exploitation of rock art images, sometimes reproduced in a highly inappropriate manner, without any control by traditional Aboriginal owners and without any royalty payments to local communities.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists are protected under the Copyright Act as individual creators of works. But important aspects of Aboriginal cultural life are not taken into account in the copyright regime.

Under Aboriginal customary law, traditional designs are owned by the community and not by an individual artist; the origin of a work cannot always be traced back to a single human creator. Some of these designs or images have secret or sacred significance and may not be disclosed to uninitiated people or used in an irreverent manner. Many traditional designs would not meet the requirement under the Copyright Act that the work be `original'. Many images (such as those derived from ancient rock art) are too old to be protected by copyright. Copyright does not protect transient images or oral traditions that have never been recorded, such as body painting designs or traditional songs and dances.

The Government is undertaking an extensive process of consultation with Aboriginal communities regarding appropriate legislative reform.

moral rights

Certain basic rights of copyright creators will be protected beyond the right to economic compensation from the use of copyright material.

Distinctly Australian announced the Government's intention to inquire into moral rights for artists.

Following the publication in 1994 of a discussion paper on proposed moral rights legislation for copyright creators, the Government will introduce a moral rights regime taking into account the essential differences of the work of filmmakers compared to other copyright creators.

Moral rights are a widely accepted concept, incorporated in legislation, in Europe, the UK and North America. Though the exact nature and extent of the moral rights protection in place may vary from country to country, the most widely accepted moral rights are the rights of an artist to be recognised as the creator of a work (the right of attribution) and not have the work altered without prior agreement (the right of integrity).

performers rights

The Government will extend current limited performers rights to prevent unauthorised use of recordings within a period of 50 years and will grant producers of sound recordings and composers an exclusive rental right with respect to sound recordings.

Performers rights were introduced in 1989, granting limited rights to prevent the unauthorised recording of live performances. These are to be extended in line with requirements of recent GATT/TRIPS agreements. Australia is also taking an active part in WIPO protocol discussions on new rights for producers and performers of phonograms.


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