Australian music lovers may face legal action from copyright owners for downloading their music on increasingly popular digital music players.
Australian University intellectual property expert Dr Matthew Rimmer said:
“In the US, the courts have recognised that the broad defence of fair use allows consumers to record and ‘time-shift’ television programs for personal use, and ’space-shift’ their record collection to MP3 files. Interestingly, this precedent has not yet been established in the Australian court system.”
With the implementation of the Australia-US Free trade Agreement handing more power to the copyright owners at the expense of consumers, this problem is looming large.
Labor Senators on the US Free Trade Agreement Senate Committee last year recommended an investigation into expanding copyright exceptions along US-style ‘fair use’ principles.
Acting Shadow Attorney-General Joe Ludwig welcomed the Government’s recently announced review into copyright exceptions. Labor calls on the Howard Government to ensure it is completed as soon as possible, to give consumers certainty about their legal position.
‘Fair use’ exceptions allow American consumers to ’space shift’ their music collection onto new digital devices in MP3 format. If Australian consumers do the same thing, they risk infringing copyright.
If the aim of the AUSTFTA was, as the Howard Government claims, to align copyright law between Australia and the US, then it makes sense for the Government to fast track consideration of consumer-oriented ‘fair use’ rights that would allow Australians to listen to their music however they like.
Contact: Taryn Langdon 0417 148 059 or 02 6277 3334
