Volume 9 Issue 1

Public-interest objectives and the law of copyright

The Hon Sir Anthony Mason AC KBE*

This paper stresses the importance of maintaining a balance between the rights of authors and the public interest in copyright law. Copyright has always recognised the public interest in the enhancement of learning, culture and science, and, incidentally, the virtue of access to information and the free flow of information. This recognition is, however, in danger of being eroded by an extension of copyright. Such an extension threatens the public interest in access to information and increases the possibility of anti-competitive behaviour.

This paper considers whether extension of copyright is necessary in the face of technological advancement, and concludes that such an extension would be hazardous if the consequence was to lessen the protection of the public interest consideration underlying copyright.

It considers such issues as whether electronic copies for temporary purposes should be considered as copies for copyright purposes, the extension of existing fair dealing provisions and library exceptions to the digital environment and the liability of internet service providers for the copyright infringements of their subscribers and of call centres for infringing copyright in music played to customers while they are on hold.

The paper concludes by referring to some of the guidelines for fair dealing in the electronic environment suggested by the Report of the Joint Systems Committee and Publishers' Association Working Party on Fair Dealing in an Electronic Environment