Crown Copyright

In December 2003 the Copyright Law Review Committee was given a reference by the Attorney-General to examine the law relating to government ownership of copyright material.
 
The Minister for Justice and Customs released the Copyright Law Review Committee's report, Crown Copyright, in April 2005.  This report is the final report of the Committee following its inquiry into Crown copyright.
 
The report begins with a detailed analysis of the scope of Crown copyright, including the meaning of 'the Crown' and the range of material in which government owns copyright.  The report also considers the current legislation in Australia in relation to government ownership of copyright, the history of the Crown copyright provisions and a review of Crown copyright provisions in other common law countries.  In addition, the report considers public policy issues including the copyright balance, access to government material, competition policy and whether government needs to own copyright in commissioned works.  There is also specific consideration of the special Crown ownership provisions of the Copyright Act 1968, the Crown's prerogative right in the nature of copyright, specific exceptions to infringement of Crown copyright and a discussion of which government entities should be considered the 'Commonwealth' or 'State'.  The report then goes on to make a number of detailed recommendations.
 
In launching Crown Copyright, the Minister noted in his media release the importance of this report:

'This report represents a significant contribution to the Government's ongoing process of copyright law reform'.

In preparing its report, the CLRC engaged in extensive public consultation in relation to its Terms of Reference, and published an Issues Paper in February 2004, which called for written submissions to be made by 26 March 2004.  The Committee received 77 submissions in response to its Issues Paper.  The Committee also prepared a Discussion Paper for a forum in Sydney  on 27 July 2004 with key interests, which provided an opportunity for further public consultation.  Following the Sydney forum, the Committee held further consultations in Perth and Melbourne with State governments and other interested parties.
 
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.  Hard copies can be purchased from CanPrint Communications Pty Ltd: ISBN 0 642 21134 5 for a RRP of $29.95 plus $7 postage and handling including GST. 
 
The Committee received the following submissions: