Legislation: More time to comment on new Copyright Bill clauses

The deadline for comment on proposed new clauses in the reworked Copyright Amendment Bill has been extended by nine days, reports Pam Saxby for Legalbrief Policy Watch.  This was communicated yesterday by e-mail to stakeholders who made written submissions and/or oral representations during last year’s public commentary process and parliamentary hearings – along with certain other interested and affected parties. According to the e-mail, stakeholders able to submit their input by the original 9 July deadline or any time before 18 July are nevertheless ‘encouraged’ to do so. Committee members will end their constituency work early to resume deliberations on the Bill on 31 July. Meetings have also been scheduled for 1, 2, 7 and 8 August.

As Legalbrief Today has already reported, according to the original National Assembly Trade and Industry Committee media statement calling for input on the clauses concerned, among other things they seek to provide for the ‘retrospective application’ of certain provisions affecting royalty payments, as well as the basic requirements of an agreement on royalty percentages. Other proposals deal with: the definition of ‘visual artistic work’; the reciprocal application of a resale royalty right; reciprocity in the context of royalty payments by collecting societies to artists in foreign countries; royalties where a copyright owner or performer cannot be found; the nature of copyright in programme-carrying signals; panorama rights and incidental use; the rights of authors in the context of commissioned work; the proceedings of the proposed tribunal; and penalties for non-compliance.