Summary

16.1 This chapter examines the operation of exceptions in the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) that refer to the concept of a ‘broadcast’ and ‘broadcasting’. There are more than a dozen of these exceptions, which are referred to in this chapter as the ‘broadcast exceptions’.

16.2 Some of the broadcast exceptions operate to provide exceptions for persons engaged in making broadcasts—in effect, the definitions of ‘broadcast’ and ‘broadcasting’ in these sections serve to limit the availability of these exceptions to content providers that are broadcasting services for the purposes of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (Cth).

16.3 Other exceptions operate to provide exceptions for persons receiving, communicating or making copies of broadcasts. The references to ‘broadcast’ in these sections serve to limit the application of these sections to broadcasts made by content providers that are broadcasting services for the purposes of the Broadcasting Services Act.

16.4 The ALRC concludes that, in a context of media convergence, and given the general desirability of a technology-neutral approach to copyright law reform,[1] the concept of a ‘broadcast’ should generally extend to similar content made available using the internet.

16.5 The ALRC proposes that the Copyright Act be amended to ensure that some broadcast exceptions also apply to transmissions of television programs or radio programs using the internet, removing any unnecessary link between the scope of copyright exceptions and regulation under the Broadcasting Services Act. In addition, some broadcast exceptions might be repealed if a new fair use exception, or new exception for quotation, is enacted.

16.6 The chapter also examines the scope of the statutory licensing scheme for the broadcasting of published sound recordings and asks whether caps on the remuneration that may be ordered by the Copyright Tribunal for the radio broadcasting of published sound recordings should be repealed, or the scheme replaced by voluntary licensing.

[1] See Ch 2.