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Copyright, classification moved to Fifield’s communications portfolio

Responsibility for copyright and classification matters and legislation have been moved from George Brandis’ Attorney-General portfolio to the new Communications and Arts Minister Mitch Fifield.

Fifield’s Communications department will deal with classification and copyright matters, as well as legislation including the Copyright Act 1968, Public Lending Right Act 1985 and Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995. All were previously the responsibility of the Attorney-General’s department.

As previously reported by Books+Publishing, in June this year the senate passed legislation that allows Australian publishers to apply to have sites hosting pirated content, including ebooks, blocked by internet service providers. The amendment to the Copyright Act was due to come into effect on 1 September but has been delayed by the failure of rights holders and ISPs to agree on who should pay for the scheme, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

 

Category: Local news