[ Forwarding this for those who might be interested. Which is
hopefully everyone! ]
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Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc. (EFA)
www.efa.org.au
[Contact details at end of message]
Media Release: 12 February 2004
EFA DISMAYED BY IP CLAUSES OF FREE TRADE AGREEMENT
Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) today expressed dismay about the
intellectual property clauses of the recently announced Free Trade
Agreement with the United States of America, saying they would leave average
Australians at the mercy of legal action from multinational media companies,
and represent a massive step backwards for Australian Intellectual Property
law.
"The United States has one of the worst systems of intellectual property laws
in the world." said EFA board member Dale Clapperton. "Their Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) has been widely condemned by civil liberties
and users groups throughout the world, and now the Howard government has
committed itself to implementing its worst, most insidious provisions."
US copyright terms have been extended multiple times at the behest of
lobbyists, and now extend to 120 years from publication, a period which
has no purpose but to protect the vested interests of large corporate
copyright holders. The 50 years (from the death of the author) afforded
by Australian law are ample, promote the growth and reuse of public
domain material, supporting ongoing innovation and development both in the
arts and business, and are in line with Australia's commitments under the
World Intellectual Property Organization treaty.
"Nothing published in the United States of America since 1923 has ever
come into the public domain, thanks to lobbying from the music and
motion picture industries to repeatedly extend the term of copyright.
The public domain has ceased to grow, and unless these continual
senseless extensions are stopped, it will never grow again."
There is nothing positive for Australia in these clauses. No additional
usage rights are granted to Australians or Australian companies, and these
provisions are a blatant sell-out to the interests of large US-based media
companies.
Additionally, "harmonisation" of Australian patent law with the United
States risks the creation of "software patents" in Australia. These types of
patents have been regularly abused in the United States by major software
companies who use them to intimidate and suppress competition and innovation.
Litigation over the alleged infringement of "software patents" has become a
lucrative business model in the United States, and is a path that Australia
would be ill-advised to follow.
"The Howard government intends to sell out the Intellectual Property rights of
average Australians to billion-dollar music and motion picture companies in
the United States, who can use these new enforcement powers to prosecute
Australians for trivial infractions of copyright, that would be legal under
American law.
Australian copyright law recognises only very limited 'fair dealing' rights,
typically for the purposes of scholarly study or review. In contrast,
Americans enjoy wide-ranging 'fair use' rights, which Australians do not, such
as the right to record TV programs for viewing at a later time, or to copy a
legally purchased Compact Disk onto an audio cassette. Unless very specific
and limited exemptions apply, Australians who perform these acts are breaking
the law.
"If the Howard government couples the draconian enforcement and prosecution
provisions of the DMCA with the already unbalanced Australian copyright law,
it will place every Australian at the mercy of a lawsuit for breach of
copyright", Clapperton continued. "It will turn the Australian Internet
industry into a litigation mill, as well-funded US media groups launch waves
of prosecutions against Internet users and Internet Service Providers
themselves."
-- Ends --
(Note: It is intended that more comprehensive analysis of these
provisions of the Free Trade Agreement will be made when the full text
of the Agreement is released to the public.)
Below is:
- Background information
- Contact details for media
Background:
An agreed text for the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement was
reached on February 8. The agreed text must be approved by the US Congress,
but does not require approval by the Australian Parliament. The Australian
Government must then pass legislation to implement the provisions of the FTA
to give them effect.
DFAT fact sheet on the Intellectual Property chapter of the FTA:
http://www.dfat.gov.au/trade/negotiations/us_fta/outcomes/08_intellectual_property.html
Electronic Frontiers Foundation coverage of the US Digital Millennium
Copyright Act (DMCA):
http://www.eff.org/IP/DRM/DMCA/
Electronic Frontiers Foundation coverage of United States "software
patent" issues:
http://www.eff.org/IP/
Details of instances in which Copyright, Patent and DMCA law have been
abused in the United States to suppress freedom of speech:
http://www.chillingeffects.org/
Australian Copyright Council fact sheets on the legality of copying music and
TV programs:
http://www.copyright.org.au/PDF/InfoSheets/G070.pdf
http://www.copyright.org.au/PDF/InfoSheets/G025.pdf
About EFA:
Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc. ("EFA") is a non-profit national
organisation representing Internet users concerned with on-line rights and
freedoms. EFA was established in 1994, is independent of government and
commerce, and is funded by membership subscriptions and donations from
individuals and organisations with an altruistic interest in promoting online
civil liberties.
Media Contacts:
Mr Dale Clapperton Mr Kimberley Heitman
EFA Board Member EFA Board Member
Phone: 0416 007 100 Phone: 0439 938 233
Email: dclapperton at efa.org.au Email: kheitman at efa.org.au
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Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc -- http://www.efa.org.au/
URL of this release: http://www.efa.org.au/Publish/PR040212.html
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=========================== Shay Telfer ================================
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