Australian Senate Passes Controversial Copyright Bill

The Australian Senate recently passed the Copyright Amendment Bill 2006, which amends the Copyright Act (Act) to bring it into line with Australia's obligations under the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement, in relation to technological protection measures. Also implemented are various recommendations from copyright law reviews to protect digital files. Many Australians appear to be critical of the amendments and argue that the government is simply toeing the US line on intellectual property rights. Submissions made by the US regarding the legislation were considered by the Senate in its deliberations. In response to criticism, the government backed down on one key proposal that would have exposed to prosecution the owners of digital music players, who kept additional copies of songs on their personal computers. This controversial provision would have seen the insertion of a new section 109A to the Act, dealing with copying sound recordings in different formats for private use. Originally, section 109A failed to recognize that individuals using digital music players might need to make and keep more than a single copy of a recording. The section was amended to allow copies to be made for the purpose of using the digital player. The amendments to the Act provide an example of a "TRIPS-plus" trade agreement provision which leads to a change in national IP laws. It remains to be seen whether the amendments will be widely embraced by Australians. For the text of the amendments, see: http://masl.to/?G24C2105E For commentary, visit: http://tinyurl.com/y4u489 Summary by: Michael Migus