The ADA Monthly Intellectual Property Wrap-Up
A monthly summary of recent legislation, cases, reports and other events relating to Australian intellectual property and the public interest.

Domestic and international intellectual property developments or developments that may affect public access to knowledge.

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Digital Agenda Review Commences
Phillips Fox, the appointed consultant undertaking part of the Government's review of the Copyright Amendment(Digital Agenda) Act 2000 has recently released four issues papers for public comment. Over 70 submissions were made in response to the Issues Papers. (Learn more about this...)

Australia- United States Free Trade Agreement
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has completed negotiations with US trade representatives on a bilateral free trade agreement. The agreement includes provisions relating to copyright which will in turn impose treaty obligations on Australian copyright legislation to comply with the terms of the agreement. (Learn more about this)

Copyright Law Review Committee, Report on Copyright and Contract
The CLRC released its report on Copyright and Contract in October 2002. Click here for a summary of the report.
Click here for the full text report from the CLRC website.

New Media, New Control: The Expansion of Copyright in the Digital Environment
This is the text of Nick Smith's paper delivered at the Australian Key Centre for Cultural and Media Policy's Intellectual Property Seminar in Brisbane (February 2001).

House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Consitutional Affairs Inquiry into Copyright Enforcement
The Andrews Committee recently released its report on copyright enforcement containing a number of recommendations that have serious implications for civil liberties. (Learn more about this...)

'Copyright as a Challenge to the Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression'
Here is a copy of a paper delivered by Nick Smith, Executive Officer of the ADA to a seminar at the 2000 Annual Conference of the International Federation of Library Associations in Jerusalem. (There is also a downloadable copy).

Napster
Napster is program for sharing music on the Internet. It has enormous implications for how copyright material is used in the digital environment. Copyright has never been so newsworthy... (Learn more about this...)

The Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Act 2000
The Digital Agenda Bill was passed by Parliament on 17 August 2000 and commences on 4 March 2001. It is the largest and most comprehensive piece of copyright legislation since the current Act was enacted in 1968. Here is the complete text of the Act including all HoR/Senate amendments. (Learn more about this...)

Copyright Law Review Committee Report into the Simplification of the Copyright Act
The CLRC, a body independent of the Government, examined how to simplify the Copyright Act. They released a report in two parts which recommends radical change. (Learn more about this...)

Internet Domain Names
Although, this is not strictly a copyright issue, the regulation of domain names is signigicant in terms of public access to the Internet. As the Internet is increasingly remade to suit large corporations and their e-commerce strategies, it is important for the ADA to be a voice for the public interest. (Learn more about this...)