Comments on: Would you pay a copyright fee for your bookshelf? http://www.electricalphabet.net/2008/05/09/would-you-pay-a-copyright-fee-for-your-bookshelf/ Writing and publishing in the digital near-future Mon, 16 Aug 2010 22:13:46 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: electricalphabet http://www.electricalphabet.net/2008/05/09/would-you-pay-a-copyright-fee-for-your-bookshelf/comment-page-1/#comment-61 electricalphabet Fri, 09 May 2008 07:20:12 +0000 http://electricalphabet.wordpress.com/?p=51#comment-61 It's basically a private copying levy and, yep, Australia legislated for it in 1989 but the law was ruled unconstituional in a High Court case: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Tape_Manufacturers_Association_Ltd_v_Commonwealth" rel="nofollow">Australian Tape Manufacturers Association Ltd v Commonwealth (1993) 176 CLR 480</a> Personally, I'm not a fan of legal restrictions against private copying by individuals when there is no economic disadvantage for the copyright holder. For one thing, it punishes consumers for content they obtained legally and for another, it creates a disincentive to use media that might ultimately expand markets for individual creators. It’s basically a private copying levy and, yep, Australia legislated for it in 1989 but the law was ruled unconstituional in a High Court case: Australian Tape Manufacturers Association Ltd v Commonwealth (1993) 176 CLR 480

Personally, I’m not a fan of legal restrictions against private copying by individuals when there is no economic disadvantage for the copyright holder. For one thing, it punishes consumers for content they obtained legally and for another, it creates a disincentive to use media that might ultimately expand markets for individual creators.

]]> By: tanaudel http://www.electricalphabet.net/2008/05/09/would-you-pay-a-copyright-fee-for-your-bookshelf/comment-page-1/#comment-60 tanaudel Fri, 09 May 2008 03:05:45 +0000 http://electricalphabet.wordpress.com/?p=51#comment-60 This might be my faulty memory of a long-ago copyright class, but didn't Australia do something similar with cassette tapes a while back? This might be my faulty memory of a long-ago copyright class, but didn’t Australia do something similar with cassette tapes a while back?

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