Infojustice.org – Australian Commission Recommends Fair Use To Restore Balance In Copyright Law

Infojustice.org reports: “A draft report by the Australian Productivity Commission (APC) concludes that the current copyright law fails to properly balance the interests of copyright holders and users.  It warns that ‘Australia’s copyright arrangements are weighed too heavily in favour of copyright owners, to the detriment of the long-term interests of both consumers and intermediate users.’  The APC makes recommends changes to the law to address the imbalance, including “the introduction of a broad, principles-based fair use exception.”

This follows the 2013 Australian Law Reform Commission report on Copyright in the Digital Economy, which also recommended that Australia amend its copyright law to include fair use.

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The APC also responded to some of the warnings offered by opponents of the move to introduce fair use in Australia. Many were offered in a report for copyright industry associations prepared by PricewaterhouseCooper [PWC] which purported to measure the costs and benefits of a switch to fair use in Australia, and suggested that the policy change could cost the country $1.3 billion a year.”

The infojustice.org article includes point-by-point counterarguments to the PWC report.

For the full infojustice.org article, see here.