The Federal Government has decided to retain the status quo on copyright format shifting exceptions for films and photographs.
On 18 June 2008, the Attorney-General’s Department tabled its report in the Federal Parliament on the operation of the copyright format shifting exceptions for photographs and films.
The exceptions reviewed allow format shifting of photographs and cinematographic films for private and domestic use. In particular, these exceptions allow:
- a hardcopy photograph to be reproduced in an electronic form, or vice versa, for private and domestic use (section 47J), and
- a videotape of a film to be reproduced in electronic form for private and domestic use (section 110AA).
These exceptions were introduced into the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) in December 2006.
The Attorney-General’s Department recommended that:
- no change be made to these copyright exceptions at the moment
- the public awareness and consumer information materials on the meaning and effect of the format-shifting exceptions be re-examined. These materials were prepared when the exceptions were introduced in December 2006, to assist people to understand the scope of these exceptions, and
- it would be beneficial to provide further public information in relation to copyright in photographs taken professionally for a family or private occasion.
In preparing its report, the department considered a wide range of submissions, ranging from those who supported the widening of these exceptions through to those who argued for the narrowing of these exceptions. Having considered these submissions, the Attorney-General’s Department has opted to retain the status quo.
In January 2008, we published an article about the Federal Government’s announcement of its review of the operation of these two copyright exceptions entitled ‘Copyright – review of ‘format shifting’ exceptions’
This article was written by Kristin Stammer, Partner, and Helen Macpherson, Senior Associate, Sydney.
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