The Productivity Commission has released its Draft Report on Intellectual Property Arrangements, following the release of its Issues Paper and receiving public submissions, which included submissions by AMPAL and the ICMP (International Confederation of Music Publishers), of which AMPAL is a member.
The Draft Report is available on the inquiry website at http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/current/intellectual-property#draft.
AMPAL's and ICMP's submissions in response to the Issues Paper are available at http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/current/intellectual-property/submissions#initial.
The key recommendations in relation to copyright in the Draft Report include that the Government:
- align the terms of protection for published an unpublished works
- avoid any international agreements that would prevent or ban consumers from circumventing geoblocking technology
- repeal parallel importation restrictions on books by no later than the end of 2017
- repeal the current fair dealing exceptions and introducing fair use as recommended by the Australian Law Reform Commission
- repeal. section 51(3) of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, and
- expand the safe harbor scheme to include a broader set of online service providers.
AMPAL will provide its full comments on the Draft Report in a further submission to the inquiry.
Submissions on the Draft Report are due by 3 June 2016. Following that, the Productivity Commission is due to present its Inquiry Report to the Government in August 2016.
