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Total entries in this category: Published On: May 18, 2008 10:34 PM |
CLRC and Crown CopyrightThe Minister for Justice and Customs has
published the CLRC's report into its latest inquiry,
Crown
Copyright.
The media release can be found here and the CLRC's report is here.
At present (and in the absence of an agreement to the contrary), s 176 of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) gives the Crown copyright ownership of any copyright material made by the Crown or under the Crowns' direction or control and s 177 gives copyright ownership to the Crown in materials first published in Australia by or under the direction or control of the Crown. The CLRC's recommendations include that: * the prerogative rights in the nature of copyright (s 8A) should be abolished; * the special ownership provisions (ss 176 and 177 etc.) should be repealed; * instead, the Crown should, subject to agreement to the contrary, own copyright materials produced by officers or servants of the Crown in the course of their duties; * there should be no copyright in bills, statutes, regulations and the like, judgments, official records of parliamentary debates, reports of commissions of inquiry and other categories of material prescribed by regulations; * the Crown should be under a statutory duty to disseminate legislation and judgments; * the Commonwealth should establish a non-exhaustive list of Commonwealth entities which qualify as the Crown in right of the Commonwealth, and each State/Territory do likewise. In an era when the Prime Minister can muse on the abolition of the States and allegations of breaching the GST Agreement fly thick and fast, what better chance could there be for moving the "Crown Copyright" provisions into something approximating the 21st century? The Minister's press release indicates that the Government looks forward to receiving "feedback" about the report. Posted: Tuesday - 19 April, 2005 at 12:33 PM | |