Australia considering Fair Use laws
Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 10:15 pm
theageRuddock considers overhaul of copyright laws
Email Print Normal font Large font By Katharine Murphy
April 25, 2006
THE guilty pleasures of taping Desperate Housewives and watching it later or listening to your jazz collection on your iPod could shortly become legal under changes to copyright law being considered by the Howard Government.
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock has signalled he favours a relaxation of Australian law to allow people to enjoy copyright material at their leisure and on the format that suits them.
The change, which is expected to be debated by cabinet in coming weeks, could legalise "time shifting" - where consumers record programs and watch them later, and "format shifting" - where digital material, such as a CD recording, is transferred to a different device.
Both practices, while everyday events for many of us, are technically illegal.
But consumer groups and some academic lawyers are pushing the Howard Government to launch a more comprehensive overhaul of Australia's copyright law.
They have lobbied for the introduction of the doctrine of "fair use" - a broad legal concept that exists in the US, which could give Australian consumers more free access to copyright material.
