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Trade agreement affects Australian copyright laws (updated)

14 February 2004 5:55 by Jari Ketola | 5 comments

The free trade agreement between the United States and Australia, which was finalized in early February, imposes many American copyright standards on Australia. The Australian copyright laws had been quite flexible before the agreement was drafted. Now many aspects of laws such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) will be implemented in Australia as well.

The factsheet from United States Trade Representative lists the details included in the trade agreement. The agreement, for example, "establishes strong anti-circumvention provisions to prohibit tampering with technologies (like embedded codes on discs) that are designed to prevent piracy and unauthorized distribution over the Internet" and "establishes that only authors, composers and other copyright owners have the right to make their work available on-line".

It is quite obvious that the recent raids in Australia, that were conducted by the anti piracy branch of Australian music industry, MIPI, were related to the newly crafted trade agreement. It remains to be seen how the agreement affects, for example, the status of mod chips in Australia. Last August Australian Federal Court ruled that it's legal to modify a Playstation console to play imported and pirated games.

Correction:
The modchip ruling was later overturned by an appeals court. Hence modchipping is illegal in Australia. Thanks to Dale Clapperton, Electronic Frontiers Australia Board Member for providing the correction.

Please also see EFA's media release on their views about the Free Trade Agreement.

Source: Slyck

Permalink to this article

The raid was illegal, says Kazaa (10 February 2004)

Music industry raids Kazaa offices (6 February 2004)

Record companies sue ISP employees (14 November 2003)

Australian MP3 site shut down (28 October 2003)

Australian label promotes a band through Kazaa (18 September 2003)

Mod chips ruled legal in Australia (29 August 2003)

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Discuss this article!
Ausgum (Junior Member) 12 February 2004 23:52
Well it doesn`t suprise me that our PM little johnny howard as sold us out to the yanks (no offence to all you nice American people out there :o) [ + quote]
Ghostdog (Senior Member) 13 February 2004 5:26
Quote: only authors, composers and other copyright owners have the right to make their work available on-line". Fuck that! So what, if I heard an excelent song by some artist and I wanted my friend to hear it as well, I�m not allowed to send that song to him? Oh yeah, we shouldn�t promote good music, should we now? Let the idiot box feed us. [ + quote]
GrayArea (Member) 13 February 2004 7:57
So our old buddies the RIAA & MPAA are to blame for MIPI's fascist thug tactics. Go figure... Ghostdog, Quote:>"only authors, composers and other copyright owners have the right to make their work available on-line". Authors and composers have rights? What a joke. "Owners" is the only word in that quote that has any relevance if you know what I mean. [ + quote]
DaOsT (Senior Member) 16 February 2004 5:52
I agree they can't and won't ever win the strongest thing in the world is UnitY if p2p ppl stick together the RIAA will never win like the british music scene is a joke were are bands with AttitudE Guns n Fuckin roses~heh~ Metallica they are real bands n music not this manufacteured crap that fat bird who sings that tune who won pop idol I have heard farts with more talent DaOsT ..::WhO GiveS A ShiT::SO FuckiN WhaT!!::....::LivE ForeveR OR DiE TryiN!!::.. ChecK OuT ThE PenguiN GamE AnD PosT YouR HighesT DistancE ON ThE ForuM http://www.gazholland.com/ [ + quote]
pcshateme (Inactive) 16 February 2004 9:05
im sick of the force fed shit like jlo and britney spears and the American Idol bullshit- I still by music from good bands like incubus or linkin park- but if theres an album with only 2 or 3 good songs on it why should i have to pay $19.99 for it? or download it for a buck a song and not be able to (legaly) burn it to CD- fuck that- what people that get caught need to do is not settle and just take it to court. no jury in there right mind would convict anyone! [ + quote]