(crossposted from CreativeFreedom.org.nz)
The NBR reports that Bandit.fm is launching within New Zealand in November, they say “In the US, some of the biggest tech buzz of the tyear has been generated by Spotify, an online music service that lets you stream an unlimited amount of songs via the internet each month, for a set fee, rather than buy tracks or albums individually on the iTunes model.”
(crossposted from CreativeFreedom.org.nz)
Tomorrow, on Friday the 30th of October the NZ Centre of International Economic Law presents a symposium with Professor Jane Ginsburg, the Copyright Tribunal’s Susy Frankel, and CFF’s Bronwyn Holloway-Smith on The Copyright Future: Authors, owners orphans, users and repeat infringers: “The protections that authors and owners have or might like to have under copyright law face challenges from legitimate users and some not so legitimate. This symposium will discuss topical issues in copyright law arising from these challenges.”
09.15: KEYNOTE ADDRESS – Digital Copyright: An update from a US perspective by Professor Jane Ginsburg. Symposium Chair: Professor Susy Frankel, Faculty of Law,
10.15 Morning tea
10.45 Orphan Works – Presentation: Susan Corbett, Senior Lecturer, School of Accounting and Commercial Law, VUW. Commentators: Professor Jane Ginsburg, Professor Ian Eagles, Law School, AUT
11.30 Panel Discussion: Repeat infringers and related issues
Panellists: Bronwyn Holloway-Smith, Creative Freedom Foundation, Professor Louise Longdin, Law School, AUT. Geoff McLay, Reader, Faculty of Law, VUW. Jon Penney, Internet Senior Research Fellow in Cyberlaw, Faculty of Law, VUW.
12.45 Close and Lunch.
(crossposted from CreativeFreedom.org.nz)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 6 October 2009. The Creative Freedom Foundation say that Commerce Minister Simon Power may decide the future of the former Guilt Upon Accusation law, section 92A of the Copyright Amendment Act, within weeks. The law was described as “draconian” by Prime Minister John Key and it resulted in widespread public protest before being scrapped in March, pending a redraft.
CFF Director, Bronwyn Holloway-Smith, said today that “Minister Power’s redrafting process has made a lot of sense so far and we have been encouraged to see that the government seems intent on avoiding going back to s92A’s draconian predecessor.”
“Internet termination is a major issue that is yet to be resolved. We don’t terminate a family’s postal service if one person uses it to break the law. We don’t terminate a family’s electricity if one person plays music too loudly. The internet is part of modern participation in society, and termination will unfairly affect peoples’ ability to pay bills, to do business, to read news, email friends, and participate in democracy. Simply put, internet termination is an inventive and ridiculous punishment that will harm many people for the actions of one.” she further stated.
“Copyright infringement is wrong but we won’t win the hearts and minds of New Zealanders with a draconian punishment like termination. We need fair, targeted penalties like fines, supported by good education about copyright.”
“It has been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, and with that in mind NZFACT are calling for New Zealanders to be presumed guilty until proven innocent yet again. NZFACT flew an Hollywood lobbyist over to argue that New Zealanders shouldn’t have the same rights that are afforded to United States citizens.”
“Here and abroad studies have shown that 30-37% of accusations of copyright infringement are false, with 57% of cases being businesses targeting competitors. These facts are backed by experts and independent studies, whereas industry claims of lost sales due to illegal downloads have been exposed as unscientific. The Australian government have labeled piracy statistics as “self-serving hyperbole” in a draft government report to their Attorney General.”
“NZFACT claim that millions of dollars are lost to online infringement despite not actually selling box office movies online, which raises the obvious question of whether millions are lost due to illegal downloads, or unsatisfied customers.”
“They seek have to extraordinary powers to terminate people’s internet accounts, but thankfully the redrafting process shows no signs of relying on hearsay and speculation.”
New Zealanders are encouraged to learn more at www.CreativeFreedom.org.nz 
and to send respectful emails to Minister Simon Power on s.power@ministers.govt.nz about the value of due process and their thoughts on internet termination.
ENDS
–
FACTS AND FIGURES
Former head of New Zealand’s Copyright Tribunal, Judge Harvey, has said that 30% of New Zealand copyright litigation fails due to a failure to prove ownership, or due to the copyright not being governed by New Zealand law.
According to a UCLA study (2008), 37% of US claims of online copyright infringement are invalid, and 57% of claims are businesses against competitors.
The Australian government have labeled piracy statistics as “self-serving hyperbole” in a draft government report. “A confidential briefing for the Attorney-General’s Department, prepared by the Australian Institute of Criminology, lashes the music and software sectors. The draft of the institute’s intellectual property crime report, sighted by The Australian shows that copyright owners “failed to explain” how they reached financial loss statistics used in lobbying activities and court cases.”
Source: http://j.mp/14KKta
The Creative Freedom Foundation is a not-for-profit trust representing 20,000 New Zealanders, including 10,000 artists (musicians, film makers, visual artists, designers, writers, & performers). The trust founded in 2008 in response to changes in copyright law and the effect these changes are having on creativity, the economy, and public rights. Through education and advocacy, the CFF seek to encourage, and promote New Zealand artist’s views on issues that have the potential to influence their collective creativity.
(crossposted from CreativeFreedom.org.nz)
Stuff.co.nz reports on a so-called “copyright crusader” (read: Hollywood Lobbyist) who was flown over by NZFACT to argue for a return to the original Section 92A and Guilt Upon Accusation. Stunningly the article has what I believe may be the first admission from NZFACT that Section 92A had no due process and would have have involved accusations punishing New Zealanders. They say, “[NZFACT] envisaged ISPs would act on infringement notices generated automatically by copyright holders, who would identify infringers by tracking traffic on file-sharing sites.” This is the ugly side of NZFACT, asking for a return to a law that Prime Minister John Key called “draconian”. The Stuff article also says that “Commerce Minister Simon Power says he expects the Government will be in a position to decide on the outcome of the review of section 92a in a couple of weeks.
(crossposted from CreativeFreedom.org.nz)
The MED have recently released a document summarising submissions received following their May-June 2009 submission round. Included are responses from British American Tobacco (NZ) Ltd, the NZ Institute of Patent Attorneys, the International Trademark Association, NZFA©T, RIANZ, InternetNZ, Google Australia, and the Creative Freedom Foundation. The submissions responded to MED’s Various Enforcement Proposal which may be considered during ongoing discussions around the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) . Minister of Commerce, Simon Power stated that the proposals specifically related to “border-protection measures, and civil and criminal enforcement provisions that are not currently part of our law.” ACTA participants met in Morocco in July 2009 for their fifth round of negotiations, and have announced their view to reach an agreement “as early as possible” in 2010. The next round of negotiations is due to take place in South Korea in November 2009.
Read the MED’s brief report on the Morocco meeting here.
Read the Press Statement about the meeting here.
