The ALRC's Issues Paper for its inquiry into Copyright and
the Digital Economy has been released, and, as expected, it covers
some – but not all – important questions about
Australian copyright law.
Comment is due by 16 November 2012. In this Alert we'll
highlight some of the more interesting questions it poses.
Retransmission of free-to-air television
Currently, retransmission without the permission of the original
broadcaster does not infringe copyright in broadcasts. The
underlying policy is to ensure places without adequate free-to-air
coverage can see these transmissions. Should this be reformed? As
the Issues Paper says:
"These issues — whether the retransmission of
free-to-air broadcasts should continue to operate as an exception
to copyright in broadcasts; and whether the statutory licensing
scheme should apply in relation to copyright materials
retransmitted over the internet — raise significant
communications and competition policy questions."
