Australia-United States trade deal threatens Australian culture and research

The Australian Library and Information Association is calling for the exemption of cultural industries and intellectual property from the Australia-United States trade negotiations.

United States negotiators are asking Australia to give up the ability to set local content requirements in film and television in the online environment. They are also insisting that Australia extend its copyright term of death of the author plus 50 years to death of the author plus 70 years and any ongoing term extension.

The United States already has 96 per cent content on Australian screens. If we trade away our ability to keep space for our own expression of our own stories, we will return to the period of the 1930s to 1960s when there was no domestic film industry.

Librarians are the custodians of our cultural heritage and we should oppose any attempt to extinguish the audio-visual records of our stories.

The extension of the copyright term in the United States has been bitterly if unsuccessfully opposed by the American Library Association and by hundreds of scientists and other researchers. It has clawed works in the public domain back into copyright protection and is costing libraries and information users in the US increasing amounts of money to access information and to trace copyright owners.

Australia is a nation of copyright users. We should retain the copyright term of death of the author plus 50 years as Canada, despite a trade agreement with the United States, has retained death of the author plus 50 years, and has also retained the right to protect and stimulate its cultural industries.

Huge demonstrations in Florida (the State which delivered the Presidency to George W. Bush) have resulted in a backing away from the Free trade agreement of the Americas.

Australians should be aware that countries making concessions on intellectual property for the sake of access to US agricultural markets have seen that access voted down by US Congress lobbied by local farmers.

Colette Ormonde
ALIA copyright advisory service

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