MESSAGE
| DATE | 2004-08-04 |
| FROM | Mike Richardson - NYLXS PRESIDENT
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] [DMCA_Discuss] Trade deal exports DMCA down under (fwd)
|
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 4 Aug 2004 11:57:23 +0400
From: Vladimir Katalov
To: dmca_discuss-at-lists.microshaft.org
Subject: [DMCA_Discuss] Trade deal exports DMCA down under
Trade deal exports DMCA down under
Published: August 3, 2004, 9:42 AM PDT
By Declan McCullagh
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
http://news.com.com/Trade+deal+exports+DMCA+down+under/2100-1028_3-5291283.html
Australia will be required to adopt U.S. intellectual-property rules,
including laws covering the "circumvention" of copy protection, and
software patents that have alarmed advocates of open-source software,
according to a trade agreement that President Bush signed on Tuesday.
Bush and Australian Prime Minister John Howard touted the agreement at
a ceremony in the White House's Rose Garden, saying it will eliminate
many tariffs on manufactured goods and agricultural products between
the two countries, which exchange $28 billion each year in goods and
services.
A less-noticed section of the free-trade agreement deals with
copyright.
"The agreement strengthens protections for intellectual property and
promotes electronic commerce," Bush said, before signing a bill
committing the United States to the arrangement. "Our two nations are
committed to the reduction of trade barriers and other restrictions
that are keeping too much of the world from the kind of prosperity and
opportunity that the developed world takes for granted."
The agreement requires Australia to recognize software patents, to
extend the duration of copyrighted works and to essentially adopt key
portions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. That 1998 law has
been attacked by computer scientists and open-source programmers in
the United States as stifling innovation and outlawing legitimate
activities like making a back-up copy of a legally purchased DVD.
Australia will be required to enact laws punishing anyone who
"circumvents without authority any effective technological measure
that controls access" to copyrighted work or who distributes hardware
or software that is designed for circumvention or is marketed that
way. As in the DMCA, some limited exceptions permit such activity by
authorized researchers and government employees for "the sole purpose
of preventing the access of minors to inappropriate online content."
One section goes further than existing U.S. law and commits both
nations to enacting bans on tinkering with "rights management
information." A related bill is pending, but has not been approved, in
the U.S. Senate.
Australia has already enacted a related law called the Digital Agenda
Act of 2000 that is not as sweeping the DMCA and does not permit
software patents. Its government is currently conducting a review of
the law that's expected to be completed this year.
Because the free-trade agreement effectively short-circuits that
review and commits Australia to extending its copyright and patent
laws, the Australian Linux community has criticized the deal.
It "will limit the ability of Australian software developers,
companies and users to benefit from and contribute to the open-source
software industry," Linux Australia says in a position paper. "Taking
on the American system of software patents will stifle open-source
software initiatives and force Australian users and businesses into
using costly and potentially inferior software, without the ability to
alter it to suit their needs."
The trade agreement has run into trouble in Australia, which has not
yet ratified it. Some members of its parliament have threatened to
scuttle the deal unless it includes more regulations targeting drug
companies, along with Australian TV and radio content.
_______________________________________________
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