Copyright amendments

The Attorney-General intends to introduce the Copyright Amendment Bill 2006 into the Parliament in October and to refer the Bill to the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs for consideration following its introduction.

The Bill will contain amendments to implement the outcome of various reviews the Government has conducted including:

• the ‘Fair Use and Other Copyright Exceptions Review’,
• the review of the 2001 Digital Agenda reforms,
• the subscription broadcast review and
• the harmonisation of criminal law provisions with the Criminal Code Act 1995 and Australian Government criminal law policy.

It will contain amendments to implement Australia’s remaining obligations under the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement in relation to technological protection measures (TPMs). Drafts of the TPM amendments have already been released.

The Bill will also contain other initiatives that the Government has been working on such as measures to improve Australia’s copyright enforcement regime and amendments to implement various reforms concerning the Copyright Tribunal.