Copyright Law Reform Research Articles

Agreed Use and Fair Use: The Economic Effects of Fair Use and Other Copyright Exceptions in the Digital Age

This paper reviews the merits of arguments being advanced to justify adoption of US style fair use exceptions to copyright law in countries that currently do not have it. Although I outline the background on global initiatives to introduce copyright exceptions, the focus of the analysis is on the Australian Law Reform Commissions’ (ALRC) recent Discussion Paper, which has recommended adoption of broad fair use exceptions to copyright law Australia. This study can be seen as representative of the analysis promoting such reforms globally.In this context the paper also considers empirical studies relied on by the ALRC which have attempted to estimate the economic effects of what they call copyright exceptions industries (CEI) that rely on exceptions to copyright law. These studies in effect attempt to assert that exceptions to copyright law might make a larger economic contribution than copyright law itself. These studies are being promoted to the ALRC and in other copyright law reform processes as providing empirical economic analysis of the economic benefits of copyright exceptions like fair use. To that extent this paper seeks to assess their strengths and weaknesses and whether they are “fit for purpose”.My general conclusion is that moves to extend copyright exceptions in response to the development of the digital economy are mistaken in that it will only serve to reduce incentives for the development of new creative works, which in turn is likely to reduce overall social welfare. Rather I argue the development of the digital economy requires the opposite response – namely the strengthening of copyright and the limiting of exceptions. The reason why is that the Internet has served to reduce transaction costs. Transactions costs provide the basic rationale and define the economic scope for fair use exceptions. To the extent transactions costs are falling, the benefits of fair use also fall. The scope for fair use to contribute to innovation and economic growth is thus reduced. This necessitates a reduction in the extent of fair use laws rather than an extension.

Congress Holds a Civil Copyright Reform Hearing

Congress is dipping a first cautious toe into what might be an ocean of legislative debate to comprehensively update and reform U.S. copyright law. During a May 2013 hearing of the House Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet, legislators and witnesses identified the need to broadly investigate the fundamental principles underlying copyright law in light of the dramatic technological and economic changes that have occurred since the last major reform of Copyright law. The focus of the hearing was less on specific proposals and more on the process of getting to copyright reform and the broad issues that will need to be addressed.

An Elegy for Greg Ham: Copyright Law, the Kookaburra Case, and Remix Culture

The Kookaburra case was a tragic and controversial copyright dispute, highlighting the need for copyright law reform by the Australian Parliament. In this case, a copyright action was brought by Larrikin Records against Men at Work, alleging copyright infringement by Down Under of the Kookaburra song composed by Marion Sinclair. The dispute raised a host of doctrinal matters. There was disquiet over the length of the copyright term. There were fierce contests as to the copyright ownership of the Kookaburra song. The litigation raised questions about copyright infringement and substantiality — particularly in relation to musical works. The case highlighted frailties in Australia’s regime of copyright exceptions. The litigation should spur the Australian Law Reform Commission to make recommendations for law reform in its inquiry, Copyright and the Digital Economy. This paper provides a critical evaluation of the options of a defence for transformative use; a defence for fair use; and statutory licensing. The paper also examines the question of appropriate remedies in respect of copyright infringement. The conclusion considers the implications of the Kookaburra case for other forms of musical works — including digital sampling, mash-ups, and creative remixes. It finishes with an elegy for Greg Ham — paying tribute to the multi-instrumentalist for Men at Work.

Copyrights and copyfights: copyright law and the digital economy

This paper will consider questions around the reform of copyright law, and how they are increasingly being framed by the challenges of the digital economy. It discusses the review of copyright and the digital economy being undertaken by the Australian Law Reform Commission, with particular reference to the costs and benefits of copyright law to consumers and creative producers. We argue that there is a pressing need to develop fair copyright rules that encourage investment in the digital economy, allow widespread dissemination of knowledge through society, and support the innovative reuse of copyright works. To better align copyright law with these goals, we recommend that Australia introduce an open ended 'fair use' style copyright exception, and encourage the development of a digital copyright exchange of the sort discussed in the UK by the Hargreaves and Hooper Reports.

A Copyright Exception for Monetizing File-Sharing: A proposal for Balancing User Freedom and Author Remuneration in the Brazilian Copyright Law Reform

File-sharing has become wide-spread media cultural practice since Napster was launched in 1999. The response by the copyright industry has been repression. This has neither resulted in a decrease in the growth of file-sharing, nor in revenues for authors. Also since the start of Napster, a different approach has been suggested: permit file-sharing subject to a collectively managed levy. Just like the private copying exception, this will ensure both the freedom of citizens to use copyright protected works in certain ways and the right of creators to an equitable remuneration. The debate on a file-sharing permission started among specialists and spread to main-stream media and political parties, leading to a number of pilot projects and bills for implementing it in copyright law. The current copyright law reform provides Brazil with the opportunity to advance such a solution, thereby taking a leadership role in the international debate on the future of creativity in the digital era.

Digital Copyright and Culture

For many years, New Zealand has struggled with how to develop its economy into a knowledge-based economy. Other small market economies have faced similar issues. Intellectual property is an important aspect of such an economy, as are the copyright and other laws that protect intellectual property. In recent years, cultural producers have debated with copyright users on the proper scope of legal protection for intellectual property. Both sides of this debate have utilized concepts of promoting and creating culture as justifications for their stance. Copyright lawmakers have the task of finding a balance between the competing views. This article focuses on the way in which New Zealand copyright law developed and that law's relationship with culture during the years in which Helen Clark was Prime Minister. In particular, this article discusses the copyright law reform undertaken to address the impact of digital technologies.

Internet piracy and the European political and legal orders

One of the most remarkable results of the elections for the European Parliament on 4–7 June 2009 is that the Swedish Piratpartiet won one seat, to which another will be added if the Treaty of Lisbon enters into force. One of the aims of this party is a reform of copyright law to restore the, in its eyes, lost balance between the potentially conflicting interests of creating and spreading culture. The party strives for, among other things, the decriminalisation of all non-commercial copying and use of copyrighted material on the internet.

Copyright law reform - Canada

A routing scheme is described for communication in a multiprocessor system employing a unique-path multistage interconnection network in the presence of faults in the network. The scheme avoids faulty elements by routing the message to an incorrect destination and then making an extra pass to route to the correct destination. It is capable of tolerating all single faults and many multiple faults in all except the first and last stages of the network. The routing scheme is useful for tolerating both permanent as well as intermittent faults in the network. It is transparent to the processors in the system which eliminates the need for elaborate reconfiguration protocols. The hardware overhead for implementing the scheme is very small and no time-penalty is paid in the fault-free case.

Copyright Law Reform - BACFl Comments on the Green Paper

Copyright Law Reform - BACFl Comments on the Green Paper

Reform of Copyright Law

Reform of Copyright Law

Copyright Law Reform

Copyright Law Reform