Copyright and Contract

In April 2001 the Copyright Law Review Committee was given a reference by the Attorney-General to look into the relationship between copyright and contract law.

The Attorney-General released the CLRC's report, Copyright and Contract in October 2002. This report, completed on 30 April 2002, is the final report of the Committee following its one-year inquiry into the relationship between copyright and contract law.

Copyright and Contract examines the ways contracts are being used in the digital environment to set the terms and conditions of access to, and use, of copyright material. It looks at the effect this has on the copyright balance as set out in the Copyright Act 1968, and, in particular, the exceptions to the exclusive rights of copyright owners. It then discusses whether or not is should be possible to displace the exceptions set out in the legislation by contractual means.

In launching Copyright and Contract, the Attorney-General noted in his media release the importance of this report:

In preparing its report, the CLRC engaged in extensive public consultation in relation to its terms of reference, and published an Issues Paper in June 2001, which called for written submissions to be made by 10 August 2001. The Committee received 36 submissions in response to its Issues Paper. The Committee also prepared a Discussion Paper for a forum with key interests on 4 October 2001 which provided a opportunity for further public consultation.

Click here for an electronic copy of the report. Please note: documents in PDF format require Acrobat Reader. Please click here to download the reader.

In June 2001 the Committee published an Issues Paper and called for written submissions to be made by 10 August 2001.  The Committee received the following submissions: 

The Committee also prepared a Discussion Paper for a forum with key interests on 4 October 2001.