Disability and Other Measures Act brings much needed copyright change

With the unanimous passing of the Disability and Other Measures Act copyright will become easier for Australians with a disability – among other things.

Librarian and archivists all over the country are celebrating with cake as the Copyright Amendment (Disability Access and Other Measures) Act has passed through Parliament with unanimous support. This introduces important changes to the Copyright Act that will, among other things, fix our current problematic preservation exceptions, simplify copyright for schools, and introduce much needed new rights for Australians with a disability.

But most importantly for our library and archives community – it ends the outmoded concept of perpetual copyright in Australia, the focus of the Cooking for Copyright campaign which saw librarians engage in mass civil disobedience, and baking, two years ago. This means that Captain Cook’s diaries and Jane Austen’s letters will finally be freely available to all the world thanks to an important copyright bill that has been introduced to Parliament. Read more in our media release welcoming the new changes.