Submission to Australian government Online Copyright Infringement Discussion Paper

The law governing copyright infringement in Australia is characterised by uncertainty and complexity. Technological change has exacerbated these problems, enabling large scale copyright infringement, which in turn has exposed a lack of social agreement on the desirability of copyright protection.

This submission argues that the Commonwealth government’s proposed reforms to copyright law do nothing to tackle the underlying dynamics that have led to these developments. Instead, they seek to tip the balance in favour of copyright holders. The proposed reforms:

  • Will do little to prevent copyright infringement;
  • Have an unacceptable impact on freedom of speech;
  • Increase, rather than decrease, the underlying uncertainties of copyright law in Australia, particularly while Australia lacks a ‘fair use’ exception;
  • Give the government the power to create new copyright frameworks by regulation; and
  • Constitute an attempt to shift the costs of copyright protection from copyright holders to internet service providers.
  • Furthermore, while the proposal to extend the safe harbour provisions in the Copyright Act is welcome, it helps illustrate the underlying uncertainties of Australia’s copyright regime.

This submission first outlines the principles by which copyright law reform must be judged.

Copyright is not an unlimited right – it is granted by the government in order to provide incentives for the production of creative work. As such, copyright law has to strike a balance between the interests of monopoly rights-holders and other users of creative works. The political bargain sustaining copyright is inherently unstable, and the instability is further exacerbated by unpredictable technological change.

In Australia, the imbalance of copyright is represented most obviously by the lack of a fair use exception for copyright infringement. This creates a great deal of uncertainty in its own right, but in the context of the government’s proposed reforms, weighing the copyright balance further in favour of copyright holders without introducing a fair use exception will substantially increase that uncertainty.

The submission concludes by outlining specific problems with the government’s proposals.

Available in PDF here.