The report shows that Australian consumers suffer some of the greatest restrictions in relation to use of copyrighted material including music, DVD and published works. Australia comes in behind the United States and developing countries such as India, China and Indonesia.

The overall rankings of the 16 countries studied:

1. India
2. South Korea
3. China (PRC)
4. USA
5. Indonesia
6. Israel
7. Pakistan
8. Philippines
9. Australia
10. Malaysia
11. Spain
12. Chile
13. Brazil
14. Argentina
15. Thailand
16. UK

This report highlights the need for reform to the Australian copyright regime to protect legitimate consumer rights. Of particular concern is the right to transfer and share copyrighted information for non-commercial purposes. For example, current Australian laws do not allow any electronic to electronic format shifting or space shifting, such as ripping a DVD to play on your iPod.

At the moment, a person who does so could be fined or found guilty of a criminal offence. A consumer who has bought a film online should not be restricted from watching it on their portable media player – it’s manifestly unfair.

CHOICE thinks that legislative reform is needed to protect consumers’ rights to the fair use of copyrighted materials. The following changes are a few of the most basic needed to bring some balance back into copyright law and move Australia up the list closer to the USA. Such changes to Australian copyright laws should have happened with the harmonisation of laws between the US and Australia in the Free Trade Agreement.

Australians need:

• An extension of consumer rights to fair dealing beyond the current limited
  circumstances
• Ensuring copy protection and other technical restrictions do not stop
  consumers’ enjoying their existing legal rights to the use of copyrighted
  materials
• Prohibition on contracting out of limitations and exceptions.

CHOICE Congress page – links to all available content
The Consumers International YouTube page – video interviews with speakers and delegates
The slideshare.net congress page – powerpoint presentations
The Consumers International web site – links to most content.

More content is being uploaded as soon as it is available.

We will try to obtain any missing presentations and papers as soon as possible.

Cheers, the CHOICE Vod Pod Blog team.

Intellectual property policies are increasingly affecting consumers’ lives. Access to knowledge in many developing countries is limited by over-restrictive copyright policies.Patent protection policies can restrict access to medicines which mean the difference between life and death for many including children. In developed countries, copyright policies protect bad business models in the entertainment industry, stifle innovation and criminalise consumers.

At the event speakers recognised that we need a balance between sufficient copyright protection to support innovation but not so much that innovation is stifled and consumers rights are limited unfairly.

If you missed this informative event, please click on the links to view the following presentations:

How does intellectual property impact on consumers’ lives?
Michelle Childs – Knowledge Ecology International (UK)

The copyright economy, innovation and digital rights management – campaigning for results in Netherlands and Europe
Alwin Sixma – Consumentenbond (The Netherlands)

Thai Civil Society Movement on Patent Law and Access to medicine
Dr. Jiraporn Limpananont – Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chulalongkorn University (Thailand)

Fair Use campaigns in light of Free Trade Agreement obligations and the creation of consumer digital rights charters
Catherine Raffaele – CHOICE (Australia)

DRM and the pricing and accessibility of academic journals and books
Indrani Thuraisingham – Consumers International – Kuala Lumpur Office (Malaysia)

Indonesian copyright law review and access to knowledge
Indah Suksmaningsih – Yayasan Lembaga Konsumen Indonesia – YLKI (Indonesia)

The Malaysian copyright law review and access to knowledge
Indrani Thuraisingham – Consumers International – Kuala Lumpur Office (Malaysia)

If you are interested in finding out more information on these issues, are interested in campaigns in the area or would like contact details for the speakers please email Catherine Raffaele craffaele@choice.com.au.

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You can view the slides directly from Slideshare, or register and log in to download presentations.

This was just one of the issues highlighted at today’s side event, Increasing Consumers Voice in Intellectual Property (IP) policy. IP has traditionally focussed on copyright, patents and trademarks. But as Michelle Childs, head of European Affairs at Knowledge Economy International points out, rights are supposed to have a balance that give exceptions and limitations to users – and consumers don’t usually have rights in this area at all.

And in an IP climate where the new battleground is enforcement, the rights issue has fundamental worldwide implications for consumers. How can we ensure access to educational material when technically, in Africa, a teacher can be sent to prison for five years for copying more than three pages of a textbook?

Delegates also discussed how IP policy has implications for the access to affordable medicine in developing countries. Dr Jiraporn Limpananont talked about several cases in Thailand, where pharmaceutical patents have led to a market, rather than needs-driven approach. There, the patent of the formulation of HIV drug ddl – a well-established medicine which was invented by the NIH in the US – led to prices that most patients simply could not afford. The Civil Society Movement in Thailand fought the patent in the courts, which eventually led to the voluntary withdrawal of the patent.

Great discussion throughout the morning but here are a few quotes that I found particularly pertinent. Please feel free to add your own in the comments.

[DRM] is bad business because it alienates the best customers of IP – young people. It’s bad law because it criminalises our own sons and daughters.

More and more we’re receiving our information in a digital form and it’s governed very often by rules that are not fair at all. Even school textbooks are in digital form – can you pass them on to siblings? Very often, you can’t.

The [DRM] debate becomes stupid because the director of Apple says you can rip a CD to overcome the DRM, but won’t change the licence, which includes criminal sanctions.

IP rights are rights. They shouldn’t be tradeable. Would you trade your right to free speech?

An all day workshop on 29 October will introduce current consumer campaigns and brainstorm ideas for action to reassert consumer rights. Here’s the IP Fringe Event Program.

Speakers include:

• Michelle Childs (Knowledge Ecology International, USA)
• Indrani Thuraisingham (CI, Malaysia)
• Indah Suksmaningsih – YLKI (Indonesia)
• Chris Murray (Consumers Union, USA)
• Luis Villaroel Villalon (Ministry of Education, Chile)
• Alwin Sixma – (Consumentenbond, The Netherlands)
• Catherine Raffaele of CHOICE.

Consumers International’s Copyright and Access to Knowledge Report