The ADA strongly supports the principal copyright finding of the report, that Australia’s copyright arrangements"have been slow to adapt to technological change, imposing costs on the broader community” and as result are “skewed too far in favour of copyright owners, to the detriment of consumers and intermediate users.” To address this imbalance, the ADA strongly supports the keystone of the Commission’s copyright recommendations - the introduction of a modern fair use provision to add flexibility to Australia’s copyright system and more adequately protect user rights.

The ADA in general supports the proposed findings and recommendations set out in the Commission's draft IP report. We believe that the recommendation that Australia should adopt an open ended fair use exception is the key recommendation of the draft report, and the most important step that can currently be taken to ensure an efficient, effective and adaptable copyright system in Australia. 

Copyright is traditionally a civil matter. However, the scope of the property rights, protections and limitations are creatures of statute. The ADA and ALCC submit that the Act currently inappropriately inhibits free speech, shifts the burden of proof in one criminal (and a number of civil) offence(s) and contains unjustified offences of strict liability. We propose:

●      Removal of some of the existing copyright exceptions (as previously identified by the ALRC), to be replaced with a fair use exception to copyright infringement

As our intellectual property laws are increasingly regulated by rules set in international agreements, the processes by which we negotiate, approve and enter into those agreements is of crucial importance. The move away from open, multilateral fora to secret trade-based treaties has added to the complexities of ensuring appropriate IP policies. 

As such the ADA and ALCC were happy with the opportunity to submit to the Senate inquiry into the treaty making process. We made the following proposals to improve the treaty making process:

Fair use, limiting geoblocking, removal of parallel import restrictions and ensuring intellectual property is subject to rules limiting restrictive trade practices were the key submissions the ADA and ALCC made to the Competition Policy Review 

We believe that these reforms would provide a regulatory framework with the right incentives to enable and promote healthy competition, leading to innovation, better choices for consumers and lower prices.  

This supplementary submission was made by the ALCC/ADA in repsonse to issues raised at the ALCC organised 'libraries and cultural sector round table'.  It deals solely with the issues of document supply and inter-library loan.