01 November 2011

Directions in copyright reform

Reading the Copyright Council Expert Group (CCEG) report on directions in copyright reform in Australia [PDF] and the European Commission report on Trends and challenges in demand-side innovation policies in Europe [PDF].

The 12 page CCEG report has been produced by an academic group convened by the Australian Copyright Council to "provide expert advice on possible reform of areas of tension in Australian copyright law". The group's members are: David Brennan (University of Melbourne), Melissa de Zwart (University of Adelaide), Michael Fraser (Communications Law Centre, University of Technology Sydney), David Lindsay (Monash University) and Sam Ricketson (University of Melbourne). The report makes broad recommendations for reform regarding -
• Non-commercial transformative use of copyright works
• Internet intermediary liability
• Orphan works
• Registration of copyright works
:The 42 page EC report aims to
• identify the trends in the deployment of demand-side innovation policy at national level in the EU Member States during the period mid-2009 to mid-2011;
• give an overview on recently introduced demand-side innovation policy measures and to ascertain if there are any observable patterns;
• provide insights into how demand-side measures are being implemented;
• analyse governance practices for coordinating between demand-side and supply-side measures.