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23 December 2016Copyright

Australia should adopt fair use exception, says Productivity Commission

Intellectual property rights across the spectrum need to be improved in Australia, according to a report issued by the Productivity Commission, which recommended the introduction of a fair use exception.

The report,  published on Tuesday, December 20, considered “whether current arrangements provide an appropriate balance between access to ideas and products, and encouraging innovation, investment and the production of creative works”.

One recommended improvement is the introduction of a system of user rights for copyright, including the fair use exception, similar to the system operating in the US.

“Australia’s exceptions are too narrow and prescriptive, do not reflect the way people today consume and use content, and do not readily accommodate new legitimate uses of copyright material,” said the report.

The commission also recommended that the government “proceed with its announced plans” to end restrictions on parallel book imports, which are copyright-protected works, before the end of next year.

Parallel imports are goods protected by IP rights and produced with the permission of the rights owner overseas, but imported into another country without permission of the domestic rights owner.

The Australian Copyright Act allows rights owners to control importation of their works, unless an exception applies, and Australia currently retains parallel import restrictions on books.

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16 October 2017   "We didn’t do these cases because we’re against IP rights, but what we saw is, if you pay very substantial amounts of money to people in order for them not to go onto the market, it’s a bit fishy.”