Fair Use is Key in S92A & C

I heard it first on Twitter, as I do with most breaking news these days, that the infamous S92A Copyright Law had been rejected in its current form by the New Zealand government. After a quick re-tweet I breathed a huge sigh of relief and then danced around my studio in glee. As a copyright holder and creative this might seem a strange reaction to a clause that was meant to protect New Zealand's creative industries against piracy, but a badly drawn up law helps nobody.

The issues with this proposed new clause came to international attention through the NZ Internet Blackout campaign. The protest by artists, small businesses and internet professionals worldwide, led to the rejection of S92A by NZ Prime Minister John Key which has been greeted as a sensible decision. The New Zealand Herald writes that Sanity prevails - RIP Section 92A, and the Dominion Post calls a Rewrite of copyright law changes 'a relief'. The LA Times explains the heart of the issue very well in New Zealand ditches controversial copyright law.

What about Us? is a series of videos from the Creative Freedom Foundation's You Tube Channel that show the concerns from musicians and Kiwi companies who feel they need a voice in the development of the Telecommunications Carriers Forum (TCF) code of conduct. One other clause for concern is S92C which has been missed in the focus on S92A and affects content creators who publish their work online.

Above all I believe the most important issue is to extend the same Fair Use protections that are enjoyed by British and American creatives & consumers. A free culture needs copyright exceptions for satire and parody, otherwise protest songs and videos may be taken down as a copyright infringement. If we are to create laws to protect overseas rightsholders then the minimum we should expect back is the same Fair Use protections under New Zealand law.

The Ministry of Economic Development's website has a Copyright Protection in New Zealand page with information about the rights, exceptions and time periods for protection. The Copyright Council of New Zealand has information for copyright creators, owners and consumers, who also have rights, something often forgotten about in the current copyright bunfight. Let's hope that this Fair Use issue now becomes the focus of this debate. The government is aware of this need as a news story on the Copyright Council website titled Parody and satire copyright exception to be considered announced that,

"The Government has announced the commencement of a review on whether there should be a copyright exception for the purpose of parody and satire. A discussion document on the issue is planned for public release in December 2008."

Daniel Spector of Pod Genie in Wellington moved from the USA to Aotearoa a year ago and prints books on demand for local authors. He thinks this is New Zealand's chance to become a world leader in copyright reform:

"I think the S92(a) repeal is a great victory for social activism, but is a temporary win. S92(a) will be back, just in a modified form. All Western countries are considering the topic of copyright law and NZ has the rare opportunity to be a world leader in this. The arts and the dissemination of news are evolving quickly and in truly amazing ways and NZ needs a true "Fair Use" statute to allow these these things to flourish. I hope our leaders are willing to seize this moment and truly lead."

It looks like the New Zealand government is serious about reform on this important issue and have recently published a tender for a 'Review of the Intellectual Property System in Driving Productivity'. The Creative Freedom Foundation have started to draft a replacement to Fix S92A with some basic principles such as privacy and proportionate punishment.

My best advice to artists wanting to protect their work on the internet is not to put it online in the first place. The internet is, at its heart a giant copying machine and trying to prevent art from being shared is like trying to change human nature. At least place a copyright symbol and specify 'All Rights Reserved' next to any digital asset you'd like to protect. Better still use a Creative Commons License to clearly state how your work can be shared, or remixed and encourage it to go viral. Above all don't be afraid to share your work and ideas as widely as you can as,

"He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me." Thomas Jefferson