Australian rebalancing: innovation and good sense

The millions of Australians that record TV programs and make private copies of CDs can continue with this practice, but now with a clear conscience.

Based on the doctrine of fair use, the Australian government plans to legalize the recording of televised shows and the transfer of songs from CDs to MP3 players, neglecting to penalize the large part of the population that, until recently, could have been considered criminals. Representatives of the government have stated that the proposed legislation is almost ready, in which they intend to rebalance the rights of authors with the rights and interests of consumers and users.

Along these lines, the Attorney General of Australia, Mr. Ruddock stated that "We should have copyright laws that are more targeted at the real problem" (...) "We should not treat everyday Australians who want to use technology to enjoy copyright material they have obtained legally as infringers where this does not cause harm to our copyright industries."

In this sense, Ruddock said he was likely to add certain limitations and exceptions to Australian intellectual property legislation in order to balance the interests of the involved parties.

In Canada, where similar laws already exist, part of the money exacted from the sale of blank CDs, iPods, and similar items is collected and distributed to the copyright holders as a form of compensation.

Source: Cultura Livre

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