Copyright Policy Form

The Austrlaian Digital Alliance is holding a "Policy Form: Righting the Copyright Imbalance", 4 March 2011, at the National Library of Australia, in Canberra.

Policy Form

RIGHTING THE COPYRIGHT IMBALANCE

A forum for ADA members, stakeholders and government on the Australian copyright reform agenda

4 March 2011, National Library of Australia, Canberra

The theme of the forum is ‘righting the imbalance of copyright law’, with the aim of setting a copyright agenda for the forthcoming 2-3 years. It is an opportunity to reach a consensus amongst copyright users to prioritise and focus the ADA’s advocacy efforts and to stimulate the copyright debate.

Program (TBA)

Background information (TBA)

Copyright law must balance the interests of authors and the need for incentives for creativity on the one hand, and the wider public interest in access to knowledge for the advancement of learning, innovation and research on the other. Recent changes to our copyright law have increased protection but have failed to include sufficient parallel measures to ensure reasonable access to works. This has resulted in substantial damage to our creative and innovative potential by simultaneously restricting access to, and raising the cost of, knowledge.

The forum will hold sessions on the most pressing areas of imbalance in Australian copyright law, including the following issues: safe harbours, the iiNet case, general exceptions, orphan works and introducing flexibility to the Copyright Act. The forum will take the following format:

• For each session, three expert speakers will present a brief position statement outlining a clear perspective on the goals of copyright policy for the particular issue and propose key reforms on how to achieve those goals with words, drafting or a clear framework.

• Attendees will be provided with a package of information on the copyright issues to be discussed, allowing presenters to assume a good background level of knowledge.

• Presentations will be followed by a discussion with the audience to be guided by a chair, whose role will be to ensure audience participation and useful outcomes.

• In the final session of the day, Kim Weatherall will sum up the goals and reforms discussed for each issue and propose a course of action.

Contact

RSVP by 25 February 2011.

If you have any questions regarding the forum, please contact Matt Dawes by telephone on (02) 6262 1273 or by email at mdawes@nla.gov.au.