While we noted that the entertainment industry was absolutely freaking out over the possibility of greater copyright exceptions (fair use, fair dealing, etc.) in the UK, it’s been really encouraging to see significant interest in copyright exceptions elsewhere. In that second link, we talked about efforts down in Australia to get the government to explore greater copyright exceptions as part of the TPP treaty. Perhaps those efforts are having an effect. It appears that the Australian Law Reform Commission is now considering the possibility of expanding the use of copyright exceptions within the law.

The the full document (pdf) notes that it needs to be explored if the existing exceptions are “adequate and appropriate in the digital environment” and if greater exceptions might:

• facilitate legitimate use of copyright works to create and deliver new products and services of
  public benefit; and
• allow legitimate non-commercial use of copyright works for uses on the internet such as
  social networking.

For those of you who live in Australia, there’s an open comment period for what the “terms of reference” for the inquiry should include. You can be absolutely sure that the industry folks will be working hard to stifle copyright exceptions. Hopefully the public’s voice — and the voice of real creators who value and make use of exceptions every day — will be heard as well.

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