Copyright Amendment (Disability Access and Other Measures) Bill 2016

Submission

State Library of Queensland

State Library of Queensland welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on proposed reforms to the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) and related regulations, so that libraries, archives and educational institutions can make legitimate use of copyright material to enable reasonable access and use of content to the benefit of all Australians.

State Library of Queensland currently has more than 1 million copyright protected works in its collection, from the UNESCO recognised Margaret Lawrie Collection of Torres Strait Islands Material, to the papers of First World War Major-General Sir William Glasgow; from correspondence of explorer Ludwig Leichardt to the architectural plans of Hall and Dods. These works form part of the bedrock of Australia’s documentary heritage, and their preservation for future generations, and ongoing access is a key task of the library.

The proposed reforms in the exposure draft Copyright Amendment (Disability Access and Other Measures) Bill 2016 address long stated concerns of our sector and we endorse the Department’s stated goal to address these concerns through the simplification and modernisation of Australia’s copyright laws.

Ending perpetual copyright in unpublished works

Currently in Australia copyright in most works last for 70 years after the death of the author. However for unpublished works copyright never ends. This poses great difficulties for cultural institutions that are unable to share old unpublished works with the nation.

In our collection we have extensive numbers of unpublished works, including diaries and letters, personal papers and other documents. For a large percentage of these works, which are almost always unique, it is impossible to determine the copyright holders because the creators or their heirs and successors are unknown or untraceable, making it impossible to seek permission for use. This denies valuable materials to researchers and the public. Our commitment to serving all Queenslanders, regardless of their location, through digitisation and access to our collections online, is hampered.

The proposed reforms in the draft Copyright Amendment (Disability Access and Other Measures) Bill 2016 bring the term of copyright protection in line with that of published works (life of the author plus 70 years) and would continue to uphold copyright protections while releasing a large amount of historically valuable information to the public.

Harmonisation of the duration provision will also bring Australia into line with most other countries in the world, including the UK, the USA, Canada, New Zealand and the countries of the European Union.

State Library of Queensland supports the amendments to copyright duration of works, altering the current perpetual copyright on unpublished works by creating a new general protection period of life plus 70 years that does not differentiate between published and unpublished work.

Reform to preservation copying for cultural institutions

Currently the preservation copying exceptions in Australia’s copyright law do not allow for world standard care of the invaluable collections of our major cultural institutions and the very important local galleries, museums, libraries and archives.

s51B of the Copyright Act 1968 allows key cultural institutions to make three copies for the purposes of preservation. However world best practice for media such as films is to make and store up to six file formats to try to ensure integrity of the work. Other fragile media, such as computer disks, need to undergo processes such as emulation and reformatting, which may not fall under the language of ‘copying’ currently in the section.

For local bodies which are not key cultural institutions, s51A of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) allows preservation copying of a published work after the work has been destroyed, damaged, stolen or lost. We have a number published works where we hold the only known remaining copy of the work. To wait until that work is damaged, or worse destroyed, before attempting to make a copy places our historic record at risk.

State Library of Queensland supports the changes to preservation copying in Copyright Amendment (Disability Access and Other Measures) Bill 2016 which state that it is not an infringement of copyright for a library or archive to make a use of a work for the purposes of preservation. As well as enabling cultural institutions to apply current international best practice now, the technologically neutral language will enable the exception to be applied as future technologies and processes are developed. We also strongly support ongoing access to the copyright materials through existing laws and practices.

Access to copyright material for organisations and individuals assisting persons with a disability.

The proposed amendments for disability access consolidate the various existing exceptions and limitations in the Act that help provide access to copyright material for certain authorised organisations and individuals. They also include a clear definition of a person with a disability for the purposes of application of the exceptions to infringement, and make the disability exceptions simpler and broader to allow more people to access material more easily. State Library of Queensland supports the changes in the Copyright Amendment (Disability Access and Other Measures) Bill which simplify the existing copyright exceptions and limitations for the use of copyright material by the disability sector, and which ensure that Australia is prepared to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons with a Print Disability.

Conclusion

State Library supports the reforms outlined in the Copyright Amendment (Disability Access and Other Measures) Bill 2016.

State Library of Queensland also supports the submissions of our peak bodies, The Australian Libraries Copyright Committee and the Australian Digital Alliance and their efforts to secure these non-controversial and positive reforms for our sector, for disability groups, and for the education sector.

Finally, State Library of Queensland looks forward to further reforms that ensure Australia has efficient, effective set of copyright laws that balance the rights of rights of authors and copyright owners and the rights of users of in-copyright works.