The Copyright Amendment (Digital
Agenda) Act 2000
The Digital Agenda Act passed the Senate
on 17 August 2000. It received royal assent on 4 September 2000 and will now
commence on 4 March 2001. It is the largest and most comprehensive piece of
copyright legislation since the current Act was enacted in 1968. The text of
the complete Act is here.
It contains:
- a new technology-neutral right of
communication to the public for copyright owners (this means that copyright
owners have the right to control dissemination of their works regardless of the
type of technology used);
- new laws that impose civil and criminal
penalties on the manufacture, importation and supply of 'circumvention devices'
(devices which get around password protection or software locks);
and
- important new exceptions to copyright which
carry forward the current balance to the digital environment. These exceptions
include fair dealing (including the quantitative 'reasonable portion' test),
library and archive copying for document supply and preservation purposes, and
the educational statutory licences which allow copying and communication of
material for teaching purposes.
You can find all aspects of the Bill
(including the actual Bill, Government and ALP amendments and explanatory
memoranda) on the parliamentary
website.
The House of Representatives debate on the Act
can be found in Hansard (27
June 2000 and
28
June 2000). Simply scroll down until you see the title of the
Bill/Act. The Senate debate on 17 August 2000can be found
here.
Further information on the content of the Bill
is provided by the Australian Library and
Information Associationand the
Attorney-General's
Department.|
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