On 21 June, the Data and Digital Ministers Meeting (comprising Ministers from the Commonwealth and each State and Territory) released the National Framework for the Assurance of Artificial Intelligence in Government. You can see the Framework here and related documentation here. The Framework sets out how Australian governments should align their practices to Australia’s 8 AI […]
Read MoreA Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society has been established inquire into and report on the influence and impacts of social media on Australian society. Its terms of reference include: (a) the use of age verification to protect Australian children from social media; (b) the decision of Meta to abandon deals […]
Read MoreThe House Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training is conducting an inquiry into automated decision making and machine learning techniques in the workplace. The Terms of Reference (here) include: the benefits for productivity, skills development, career progression and job creation in Australia; the role of business software and regulatory technology (‘Reg Tech’) in improving […]
Read MoreOn 11 April, the Attorney General announced that the Government would introduce amendments to the Copyright Act in relation to remote learning. You can see the announcement here. The amendments are intended to address perceived uncertainties by some in the school sector regarding remote learning by school students. Remote learning has been in place in […]
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The Attorney-General’s Department has published the list of members of the Copyright and AI Reference Group (CAIRG) and of the CAIRG Steering Committee. You can see the 61 members of the Reference Group and the 20 members of the Steering Committee here. Copyright Agency is a member of the Steering Committee, as are Australian Society […]
Read MoreOn 15 March, publishers who successfully sued Internet Archive (IA) in relation to its ‘controlled digital lending’ program filed their brief opposing IA’s appeal. There is information about the case, and the publishers’ position, in the statement from the Association of American Publishers here. The District Court’s March 2023 decision, finding that IA had infringed […]
Read MoreOn 4 March 2024, the Australian Government announced its consultation process on protecting First Nations traditional knowledge and cultural expressions. You can see the announcement here, and more information on the Office for the Arts website here. The development of the legislation is a commitment under the National Cultural Policy, Revive: a place for every story, […]
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On 25 February, the Government released the Australian Universities Accord final report. You can see the full report here, the summary report here, and the Education Minister’s announcement here. The report contains 47 recommendations, with a strong focus on equity and increased opportunities for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The first recommendation is that the objective […]
Read MoreIn January, 12 organisations representing Canadian writers and publishers issued a joint statement on copyright and Generative artificial intelligence (AI). It opposes any changes to Canada’s copyright legislation to introduce new exceptions to train large language models for AI, or to give copyright protection to AI-generated products. You can see the statement here. You can […]
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On 2 February, the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee released its report on large language models and generative AI. You can see the Executive Summary here and the full report here. Chapter 8 of the report deals with copyright issues (here). The Executive Summary says: We have even deeper concerns about the Government’s […]
Read MoreThe NSW Government released its 10-year Arts, Culture and Creative Industries Policy, ‘Creative Communities’, in December 2023. You can see a summary of the policy here, the full policy here, and the Minister’s announcement here. Copyright Agency made a brief submission to consultation on the policy (here). The NSW Government endorses Revive, the national cultural […]
Read MoreOn 17 December, the Government announced that it would implement the five recommendations in Treasury’s report of its review of the news media bargaining code. Information about the review is available here. A summary of the Code is set out on page 4 of the review’s consultation paper here. The Government’s response is available here. […]
Read MoreOn 4 December 2023, the Attorney General convened the fourth and final copyright roundtable of a series commenced in February 2023. You can see our earlier posts on the roundtables here and here. The roundtables considered five issues: orphan works, quotation, remote learning, definition of ‘broadcast’, and artificial intelligence (AI). Copyright Agency participated in each […]
Read MoreIn February 2023, the Attorney General commenced a copyright roundtable process. The first meeting identified 5 issues for review: orphan works, quotation, remote learning, definition of ‘broadcast’, and artificial intelligence (AI). The sessions in the second roundtable considered orphan works, quotation and remote learning. Our post on the second roundtable is here. The sessions in […]
Read MoreThe Department of Industry published a discussion paper on Safe and responsible AI in Australia in June 2023, and sought views by 4 August. See our earlier news post here. The Department received more than 500 submissions. Submissions are now available online here. This is one of several government inquiries into AI. Others include: Artificial […]
Read MoreThe House Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training is conducting an inquiry into and report on the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in the Australian education system. You can see the announcement of the inquiry here, terms of reference for the inquiry here, and the submissions to the inquiry here. You can view […]
Read MoreThe Attorney-General’s Department (AGD) has published a High Level Summary of the Second Roundtable on Copyright, and Issues Papers on each of the topics discussed at the Roundtable: see here. The topics were: Orphan Works; Remote Learning; and Quotation. Copyright Agency participated in the Roundtable on each of the three topics. The Department will convene […]
Read MoreThe Department of Industry is seeking view on Artificial Intelligence (AI) by 26 July 2023. You can visit the Department’s webpage for the consultation here, download the Department’s Discussion Paper here, and make a submission here. Copyright Agency will be making a submission. If you would like assistance with making a submission, please contact the […]
Read MoreThe Federal Government launched its new Cultural Policy, Revive, on 30 January. The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, and the Minister for the Arts, Tony Burke, both spoke at the launch. The policy The policy includes recognition of the fundamental role of the copyright system in supporting Australia’s creative industries and workers: The Government […]
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We have amended our Distribution Policy in relation to unpaid allocations (‘rollovers’). From July 2022 we will be including rollovers in distributions of licence fees, rather than using them to pay expenses. The net amount for distributions will be materially the same.
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The Department for the Arts is inviting submissions on a new National Cultural Policy and anyone interested in our nation’s arts, entertainment and cultural sector is encouraged to have their say.
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Copyright Agency is a signatory to the Code of Conduct for Collecting Societies, and reports annually on its compliance with the Code (see here). Members and licensees are invited each year to make submissions to the Annual Code Reviewer (a former Federal Court judge) about Copyright Agency’s compliance with the Code (see here for the call for submissions for the review of compliance for 2020–21).
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As reported in February’s Creative Licence (here), the government is seeking feedback on an ‘exposure draft’ (ED) of potential copyright changes. The ED is just for consultation, and does not represent the government’s final position on legislation for introduction into Parliament.
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As we reported in last November’s Creative Licence (here), a Triennial Review of the Code of Conduct for Copyright Collecting Societies is currently in train (see here). The public meeting on 7 February 2022 was attended by representatives of each of the copyright collecting societies (including Copyright Agency), Copyright Advisory Group to the Australian Education Senior Officials Committee (CAG), and Universities Australia (UA).
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In late December, the Australian Government released a discussion paper and ‘exposure draft’ seeking feedback on potential changes to copyright legislation. Feedback is due by 25 February: see here.
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On 13 August, the government announced some proposed changes to the Copyright Act. We will keep members informed of further developments.
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Mr Gadi Oron, the Director General of CISAC – the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers – will visit Australia and New Zealand this month for a first-hand look at the challenges and success stories around rights management in the region. CISAC, headquartered in France, is headed by electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre […]
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Copyright Agency has issued its 2018-19 Annual Report at its AGM held in Sydney on 20 November 2019. The report provides the audited financial results of the company and reports on achievements in the last financial year. 2018-19 was a strong year with many gains for our members. Highlights include: Strong financial results We generated revenue of around $150m and paid […]
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The Copyright Agency welcomes a landmark report from the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage which has backed Canadian authors in their push to reform copyright laws in that country. Copyright Agency CEO Adam Suckling says, “Canadian authors and publishers have endured serious erosions to their livelihoods since 2012 as a result of copyright changes which […]
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By Copyright Agency Chair, Kim Williams, AM. In my recent trips to Canberra as Chair of the Copyright Agency there has clearly been a sea change in the view of many (if not all) politicians and policy makers on ‘Big Tech.’ While these companies, of course, provide extraordinary services that are widely used, the image […]
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The Parliamentary Friends of Australian Books and Writers (PFABW) celebrated its first anniversary in late September with a record number of attendees at Parliament House. Launching the Australian Reading Hour for 2018, co-chairs Assistant Minister the Hon. Linda Reynolds CSC and Graham Perrett MP, noted they were pleased with the turn out for such a […]
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A message from the CEO, Adam Suckling. Dear members, I write to update you on the Copyright Agency’s Future Fund which was established by a 2013 Board decision to safeguard the interests of our members in light of serious threats from proposed changes to Australia’s copyright laws. In the interests of members, the Copyright Agency […]
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On 27 June, the Government passed the Copyright Amendment (Services Providers) Bill 2017 to improve copyright protections for the disability, educational and cultural sectors. The Copyright Agency welcomes the changes, as does Universities Australia, the Council of Australian University Librarians and representatives of schools and people with disabilities. Minister for Communications, Senator Mitch Fifield, said in a […]
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The winner of the Miles Franklin Award in 2017, Josephine Wilson, spoke at the recent Australian Parliamentary Friends of Books and Writers event at Parliament House Canberra on Monday 18 June 2018. The event, which was co-chaired by Senator Linda Reynolds and Graham Perrett MP, introduced four of the six authors who have been shortlisted […]
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To assist the current review of copyright law in Canada, the Copyright Agency joined with the Copyright Council, the Australian Publishers’ Association and the Australian Society of Authors to submit a paper providing an overview of our copyright framework and current state of play. This was partly prompted by some misunderstandings about the situation in […]
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Copyright is under review in Canada. This has come about because of a change to Canada’s copyright laws in 2012 which meant education was added as a copyright exception to the Act – which has resulted in some severe unintended consequences for authors. Similar proposals have been repeatedly recommended in Australia by the Productivity Commission […]
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The Federal Government’s Department of Communications and the Arts has released the draft report of its review of the Code of Conduct for Copyright Collecting Societies. The draft report outlines potential options for updating the Code, “to improve confidence in the collective administration of copyright in Australia”. The Department is now seeking feedback on the […]
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Copyright Agency’s equivalent collecting society in the United Kingdom, the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) has applied to the UK Government to operate a new scheme known as Extended Collective Licensing (ECL). Such schemes enable licensing bodies, that represent a significant number of rightsholders belonging to the same class, to extend their licences to cover unrepresented […]
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On 1 December 2017, the Copyright Agency Board agreed to several beneficial changes to member policies. These changes will: assist early resolution of competing claims by different members to an allocated amount and enable funds held in suspense to be paid; change our member terms for new members to make clear that our licensees can, […]
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Last month, the Copyright Agency’s CEO Adam Suckling attended the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO) World Congress in Tokyo. Apart from participating in the Congress, the trip was an opportunity for the Copyright Agency to share information with Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs, which is considering introducing an educational licensing scheme similar to […]
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MEDIA RELEASE 20 November, 2017 Copyright Agency, the body representing the copyright and licensing interests of thousands of authors, publishers, photographers, media and content creators, has been forced to take the NSW Government to the Copyright Tribunal after it refused to pay a fair rate for using copyright material for five years. Copyright Agency CEO […]
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The Copyright Agency and Viscopy announced their intention to merge earlier this year. This process is now underway and, as such, two Extraordinary General Meetings will be held on 2 November – one for Viscopy members (to vote for the change) and one for Copyright Agency members to vote to amend the Copyright Agency’s constitution […]
Read MoreThe 2017 Educational Publishing Awards, sponsored by the Copyright Agency and Opus Group, were held on 20 September. The Publishers of the Year were Brisbane’s Origo Education in the Primary category and Oxford University Press for the Secondary category. Keynote speakers for the evening included: Gheran Steel (Boon Wurrung Foundation), Chris Gray (Wiley), Adrian Rhodes […]
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Since our campaign Free Is Not Fair began, thousands of letters have been sent to Federal MPs and Senators in all 150 electorates across Australia. It’s not too late to let your elected representative know how you feel about potentially damaging changes to copyright in Australia. Visit www.freeisnotfair.org now and voice your concern. You can […]
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After a successful five-year ‘Services Agreement’ between rights management organisations, the Copyright Agency and Viscopy, the two organisations have agreed in principle to begin the formal arrangements to merge. Between them, the two organisations represent some 43,000 members, ranging from visual artists and illustrators to journalists, cartoonists, surveyors, educational authors and publishers. Viscopy Chair, Tim […]
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Iconic Australian playwright David Williamson wrote in The Daily Telegraph on Saturday 10 June about why copyright is so vital to him and why he and 49 of Australia’s leading stage and screenwriters have signed an Open Letter rejecting any relaxation of Australian copyright. “A lot of people used to say to me, you’re lucky to […]
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Steve Jobs said: “From the earliest days at Apple, I realised that we thrived when we created intellectual property. If protection of intellectual property begins to disappear, creative companies will disappear or never get started.” Bravo Steve, I say! Read Copyright Agency Chairman Kim Williams’ Opinion piece published in the Fairfax media today: Copyright changes are […]
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Australians artists, writers, musicians and filmmakers have a right to receive fair payment for their work. The sweeping changes to Australian copyright laws being cheered on by Fairfax journalist Peter Martin, the Productivity Commission as well as American big tech companies will see these protections taken away. In his opinion piece in today’s SMH and Age, […]
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As the Productivity Commission delivers to Government what’s expected to be a controversial report into Intellectual Property today, research from the US questions the push for relaxing Australia’s copyright rules. The Chief Economist of Washington’s Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal and Economic Public Policy Studies, Dr. George S. Ford, has weighed into Australia’s current copyright […]
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Proposals to impose a US-style intellectual property arrangement in Australia made by the Productivity Commission today would pose one of the greatest dangers to Australian-made content in a generation. “A US-style ‘fair use’ arrangement to copyright is out of context in the Australian system and would be a wrecking ball to Australian writers, creators, publishers and […]
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The Copyright Agency welcomes the opportunity to review proposed changes to the Copyright Act. We particularly welcome the amendments to simplify the statutory licences for education, which have resulted from a joint proposal from schools, universities, Screenrights and the Copyright Agency. Copyright Agency CEO, Adam Suckling, says, “We support simplifying the education statutory licences, which […]
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The Federal Government has released an ‘exposure draft’ of the Copyright Amendment (Disability Access and Other Measures) Bill 2016 for public comment. The Bill seeks to: streamline the educational statutory licence provisions to make it easier for educational institutions and copyright collecting societies to agree on licensing arrangements for copyright material provide simple, clear rules […]
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Australia’s book industry: authors, publishers, booksellers and rights managers have welcomed the Federal Government’s decision to reduce the Low Value Threshold on offshore purchases to zero from 1 July 2017. The Australian Society of Authors, the Australian Publishers Association, the Australian Booksellers Association, the Copyright Agency and the Australian Council of Small Business called for […]
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Copyright Agency | Viscopy has welcomed the Government’s Online Copyright Infringement Discussion Paper, saying reform is long overdue. Chief Executive Murray St Leger said, “It’s well established[1] that Australians overwhelmingly want creators to be paid for the work they distribute online. We want an internet that works for everyone – creators, consumers, tech providers and […]
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