Philip Ruddock, Fair Use and Other Copyright Exceptions: An examination of fair use, fair dealing and other exceptions in the Digital Age, Attorney General's Department, Government of Australia, May 2005. Excerpt: 'The purpose of this paper is to invite comment on whether the Copyright Act should include a general exception associated with principles of 'fair use' or specific exceptions which would facilitate the public's access to copyright material in the digital environment....In general terms, a 'fair use' exception would introduce a general exception or defence to copyright infringement for activities that are determined to be 'fair'. This would allow people to use or copy copyrighted material for those purposes without needing permission from the copyright owner....A fair use exception, based on the model in the United States, would list a number of factors or principles of 'fairness' for a court to consider in deciding whether any activity should be an exception to copyright (ie outside the uses that the copyright owner is able to stop). A specific exception would identify a particular activity (eg. time-shifting) that would be an exception to copyright. The main difference between the two approaches is that a fair use exception would be openended and flexible while a specific exception would be more certain but confined by its scope. The Copyright Act currently contains a number of exceptions to copyright known as the 'fair dealing' exceptions. The fair dealing exceptions are also based on a concept of fairness but are confined to four specific purposes, such as study criticism and review. The Government is reviewing whether these and other current exceptions are adequate - or whether a new general exception based on 'fair use' or new specific exceptions might be appropriate.' Comments on this report are due by September 1, 2005. (Thanks to BNA Internet Law News.)
Posted by
Peter Suber at 5/05/2005 10:46:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
