Summary

15.1 The Copyright Act contains exceptions for parliamentary libraries using copyright material to assist parliamentarians, and copying for judicial proceedings. Other government use of copyright material is carried out under direct licences, or under the statutory licence for government copying.

15.2 This chapter identifies certain government uses that should not be remunerable. It considers whether these uses should be dealt with by way of the statutory licence, or whether fair use or a specific exception should apply. The ALRC concludes that high volume institutional uses that are nearly all fair (according to the four fairness factors) are most efficiently dealt with by way of specific exceptions. Such exceptions, if technology-neutral and clear, can reduce transaction costs by avoiding the necessity of counting them in surveys, considering the fairness factors or developing protocols and guidelines.

15.3 The ALRC recommends that the current exceptions for parliamentary libraries and judicial proceedings should be retained, and that further exceptions should be enacted. These exceptions should apply to use for public inquiries and tribunal proceedings, uses where a statute requires public access, and use of material sent to governments in the course of public business. Governments should also be able to rely on all of the other exceptions in the Copyright Act. These exceptions should be available to Commonwealth, state and local governments.