SMH: Copyright laws under review.

Author: Grant

15 Feb

The federal Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, is considering allowing consumers to freely copy films, music and photographs from one medium to another, as long as they have paid for them and the material is solely for private use.

The prospect of a “fair use” clause moved a step closer yesterday when the Federal Government announced a wide-ranging review of copyright laws.

I always thought we had “fair use” provisions in Australia. It appears not.

Filed under: Australian politics

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2 Responses for "SMH: Copyright laws under review."

amy February 15th, 2005 at 5:23 pm 1
until recently i thought you were allowed to copy cds (for example) for your own use, ie. for your car etc, but after an arguement about copy control on cds i found out it’s not allowed at all. stoopid.
Jai February 16th, 2005 at 3:56 pm 2
Hi guys,

Yes it is a strange fact that it has been (and still cureently is) illegal in Australia (and most of the world) to make copies of music etc for your own persoanl use even if you had purchased it yourself. Even in the days of cassette tapes. I did alot of reading on this late last year and let me tell you it was so fucking complicated. If you ever find yourself bored and have a spare 6 months to fill, read up on Australian copyright law. Be warned you will be no wiser at the end of the 6 months, and most likley alot more confused than you ever imagined.

This brings about a strange issue. It is currently illegal to ‘rip’ your own music to your pc or ipod. Basically unless you are playing from the purchased medium (CD, DVD, cassette, LP etc) then it is illegal. It has commonly been known by the ‘powers to be’ that copies are being made etc. Yet iPods sell quite openly on the market. I believe Sony is even marketing there own mp3 player shortly (or perhaps already). Now dont they own a major percentage of the copyright in music on this planet? So they themselves are now endorsing copyright breach, yet I am sure they are still vehemently persuing lawsuits against any people doing it on a large scale.

The world is a vampire as Billy Corgan says…..

I believe at one stage major music companies were trying to stop firstly blank cassette sales and more recently blank CD and DVD sales. Then they ended up with a compromise and said they deserved a cut of the sales profits from these sources as they were being sold purley based on a product they were providing. Ie if they (the record companies) did not produce CD’s etc then the sales of blank media would be vastly reduced.

Interesting fact.

It goes to show how many of our laws are not adhered to in general life, which to me would instigate a whole new topic of discussion. When do you know you are breaking the law?

I can speed in my car if its say only 7km/h over the limited but not 8? Where does it stop and where does it begin???

When did we humans turn such a beauty life into figures and letters?