Celebrations as Marrakesh Treaty comes into force
Late last month saw a truly historic day in copyright, one some of us feared we’d never see. On 29th September 2016, the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled came into force. The Treaty, which has already been ratified by 22 countries […]
An Open Letter to the Liberal and Labor Parties on copyright reform
Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA), Australia’s leading digital rights advocacy organisation, has long campaigned for positive reform to Australia’s Copyright Act. EFA believes that Australia’s Copyright Act is unnecessarily inflexible and no longer fit for purpose in an increasingly digital world. This inflexibility means that technological and service innovations are often unable to be brought to […]
EFA’s 2016 Wish List
While this has been a difficult year for the digital rights agenda in Australia, 2016 looks much more promising. With an election looming in which innovation and ‘tech-savviness’ are likely to be regular talking points, it provides one of the best opportunities for digital rights issues to really break into the mainstream. As we did last […]
Proposed copyright amendments welcome but insufficient
EFA welcomes today’s release by the Department of Communications of an exposure draft of proposed amendments to the Copyright Act that seeks to address a number of important weaknesses in the current law relating particularly to the educational, library and archives sectors. In particular, EFA welcomes the proposed extension in the safe harbour provisions, as […]
Digital innovation requires copyright reform
EFA welcomes the release of the government’s National Innovation and Science Agenda but is disappointed that the agenda is silent on copyright reform. As recommended by the Australian Law Reform Commission in their November 2013 report on Copyright and the Digital Economy, the introduction of a broad flexible fair use exception into Australian copyright law […]