[Infowarrior] - AUS: Transferring music ruled legal

[Richard Forno]

Transferring music ruled legal
By Kerry Anne Walsh
May 14, 2006
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/music-to-the-ears/2006/05/13/11469407
75897.html

TRANSFERRING music from CDS onto iPods and other MP3 players will no longer
be illegal after federal cabinet agreed to make sweeping changes to
copyright laws.

But beware the trap of downloading from the internet. The Government will
increase surveillance and fines on internet piracy in a package to be
announced by Attorney-General Philip Ruddock today.

Once the new laws are passed, "format shifting" of music, newspapers and
books from personal collections onto MP3 players will become legal. The new
laws will also make it legal for people to tape television and radio
programs for playback later, a practice currently prohibited although
millions of people regularly do it.

Under the current regime, millions of households a day are breaking the law
when they tape a show and watch it at another time.

Schools, universities, libraries and other cultural institutions will, in
the future, be free to use copyright material for non-commercial purposes.

But the Government is giving police greater powers to tackle internet
piracy, signalling that the days of downloading music from the internet
danger-free may be limited.

Police will be able to issue on-the-spot fines and access and recover
profits made by copyright pirates. Courts will be given powers to award
larger damages payouts against internet pirates. Civil infringement
proceedings will apply to copyright pirates who make electronic
reproductions or copies of copyright material.

In a win for recording artists, the new package will include the removal of
the legislative 1 per cent cap on copyright licence fees paid by radio
broadcasters for playing recordings.

The Government is bracing for a stoush with commercial radio stations over
the removal of the cap, which has been in place since 1968.

But Mr Ruddock believes the archaic provision was established to protect
radio broadcasters who were facing a difficult economic environment at the
time.

As they now operated in a "profitable and robust" industry, record companies
and artists should be allowed to negotiate a fair market rate without
legislative intervention, he will announce. If both sides cannot agree on
fees, the Copyright Tribunal would be called upon to adjudicate.

The Australian Institute of Criminology will be asked to undertake research
into the extent of piracy and counterfeiting in Australia and the best
methods of responding to the problem.

"Copyright is important and should be respected," Mr Ruddock said. "Everyday
consumers shouldn't be treated like copyright pirates. Copyright pirates
should not be treated like everyday consumers."

The Government will ask the Australian Crime Commission to investigate
reports that organised crime is infiltrating piracy and counterfeiting
rackets in Australia.