The Future of Copyright Exceptions and the AG's Discussion Paper

49 days to go before submissions are due on the Issues Paper on Copyright Exceptions. Submissions are due 1 July.

My previous posts on this are here (summary of the issues paper) and here (compendium of past posts relevant to the review).

I've been receiving a few questions from people on whether it is worth putting in individual submissions, and what submissions might be valuable; what issues are up for debate.

In response to the first question: yes it is worth making submissions. After all, what do you have to lose? What happens in the end will depend on the government's attitude - but the Issues Paper left things wide open and if there is one thing you can say for Philip Ruddock, it is that he seems genuinely interested.

Who should submit? People affected by the lack of an exception, or people affected by the form and structure of current exceptions. The more information you can give of real life problems that have affected you - because of the existence, non-existence, or structure of exceptions in the current copyright law, the better. Some examples include:

• are you affected by the complexity of having to comply with current exceptions? Does that stop you from doing things you might like otherwise to do, that have some real social value (ie, that society should encourage)? Are there old films mouldering away somewhere because you can't use the archiving provisions to preserve them?
• are there exceptions in the current Copyright Act which prevent the growth of a market opportunity that small Australian businesses could use?
• have you ever had to abandon a project or business idea because of copyright law? For example, did you ever have to abandon a digital media project or artwork because you wanted to use existing material and couldn't get the necessary permissions?
• Can you talk about real life problems with digital media/format-shifting? Are you encountering serious barriers to things you want to do?
• are there copyright materials you would really really like to use but can't because they're old and you can't find the copyright owner?

Remember, not all problems deserve a copyright exception. Think about whether there are legitimate interests on the other side too - the most convincing submissions are thoughtful ones! More tips, by the way, in this previous post.

And if anyone out there has more suggestions for people who want to make submissions, or wants some help in thinking about making submissions, please, let me know.