House Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs

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Inquiry into technological protection measures (tpm) exceptions

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Terms of Reference

Chapter 17 of the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement deals with intellectual property rights. Article 17.4 stipulates the parties’ obligations in relation to copyright.

Article 17.4.7 requires the Parties to create a liability scheme for certain activities relating to the circumvention of ‘effective technological measures’. The Parties may introduce exceptions in the liability scheme as specified in Article 17.4.7(e)(i) to (vii) or pursuant to Article 17.4.7(e)(viii).

The Committee is to review whether Australia should include in the liability scheme any exceptions based on Article 17.4.7(e)(viii), in addition to the specific exceptions in Article 17.4.7(e)(i) to (vii). The Committee must ensure any proposed exception complies with Article 17.4.7(e)(viii) and 17.4.7(f).

Particular activities which the Committee may examine for this purpose include:

1. the activities of libraries, archives and other cultural institutions
2. the activities of educational and research institutions
3. the use of databases by researchers (in particular those contemplated by recommendation 28.3 of the Australian Law Reform Commission Report on Gene Patenting)
4. activities conducted by, or on behalf of, people with disabilities
5. the activities of open source software developers, and
6. activities conducted in relation to regional coding of digital technologies.

Referred by Attorney-General 19 July 2005

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