Murphy Warns Oz To Modify New Copyright Legislation

SYDNEY-Fear about loopholes in impending Australian copyright legislation has led one of the leading figures in U.S. music publishing to urge the country's government to look again at its new proposals.
Edward Murphy, chief executive of U.S. organizations the National Music Publishers' Assn. and the Harry Fox Agency, is calling on the Australian government to bring its proposed legislation updating the country's copyright laws into line with international standards.
His fears about the effectiveness of the new law emerged following a Feb. 7 meeting (BillboardBulletin, Feb. 15) in Sydney with local bodies the Australasian Performing Rights Assn. (APRA) and the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society.
All three parties are concerned that the Digital Agenda Bill, which updates Australia's 1968 Copyright Act, has loopholes in its provisions against circumvention. Murphy is worried the bill will allow exemptions for temporary copies. The three also believe it is not clear where an Internet service provider's liabilities start and finish in the issue of copyright protection.
"We are recommending that the government modify the current bill to make it compliant with the U.S. and international standards," Murphy says.
APRA's director of broadcast and online licensing, Richard Mallet, says, "At the moment, people can get away without paying copyright fees." He adds, "Australia is not compliant, and it is about time that changed."
The Australian Recording Industry Assn. (ARIA) has had the Digital Agenda Bill on its agenda since 1993, although the first draft was not released until March 1999. Since then, a House of Representatives committee has been studying submissions to the bill, including those from ARIA and APRA.
Last October, the committee was told by the International Intellectual Property Assn. that the proposals would fall short of Australia's obligations under the existing World Intellectual Property Organization treaties.