In December, 2006, several amendments to the Copyright Act were passed by Federal Parliament. Previously in response to a call for submissions, NAVA had made a number of recommendations regarding 'Fair Use' of copyright material.
Some of the changes, affecting Australian visual artists, are as follows:
• There is now an exception allowing “fair dealing” for parody or satire. This will make it easier for those artists whose work utilises and transforms or comments on the work of others. However, as there is no definition of “parody” or “satire” in the Act, these terms are likely to be interpreted with reference to their dictionary meanings.
• A 'key cultural institution' (commonly a library or archive) is now allowed to make three preservation copies of a range of copyright property including: an original artwork, provided a photographic reproduction is not commercially available; a particular edition of a work; an original or unpublished sound recording, an original or unpublished film; and a published sound recording or film, provided a copy of it is not commercially available.
• Owners of certain types of copyright material are now allowed for private domestic use to make a copy into certain other “formats”, such as scanning into electronic form.
• There are new definitions for "libraries", "administrative purposes" and new provisions for educational institutions, which expand the copyright exemptions including the reproduction of artwork for certain educational purposes.
• The Copyright Tribunal has had its jurisdiction extended to cover copyright licenses administered by all collection agencies, like Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) and Viscopy.
For more information about the Copyright Amendment Act 2006, go to the Copyright Council of Australia website.
