It's turning out to be quite a busy period in the Australian copyright arena, with the Copyright Amendment Bill 2006 currently in front of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee (LACA) and due to be passed by the end of the year. This Bill contains a number of items that will substantially change not only Australian copyright law but also affect the broader copyright commons. It includes new exceptions for format-shifting and time-shifting, changes to fair dealing and the technological protection measure provisions that Australia is obligated to implement under the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement.

A larger post on the many issues that this Bill creates is forthcoming, but Unlocking IP participants have been very active in government consultation on the Bill. Submissions to LACA were due on Monday 31st October, and the following submissions by Unlocking IP participants can be found here on the LACA website, as listed:

9 - Linux Australia - Unlocking IP Industry Partner

21 - Open Source Industry Australia - Unlocking IP Industry Partner

37 - Professor Graham Greenleaf, Alana Maurushat, David Vaile, Catherine Bond and Abi Paramaguru - Unlocking IP investigators and researchers

46 - Professor Brian Fitzgerald - Unlocking IP Chief Investigator (with Jessica Coates, Nic Suzor, Damien O'Brien & Bjorne Bednarek)

47 - Catherine Bond, Alana Maurushat and Professor Graham Greenleaf - Unlocking IP investigators and researchers

The public hearing for the Bill will take place on Tuesday 7th November, with LACA due to report by 10 November.

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