Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Bill

I can be relatively brief on these clauses. This is very important legislation, and I think that Mr Gallagher is right when he says it will become more important in the years to come. The first copyright Act, as I said, was that of the Statute of Anne in 1712, and of course the last substantive amendment to New Zealand law was the 1994 legislation, which basically followed, insofar as copyright was concerned, the 1988 Act from the United Kingdom. But there is the very real question, when we come to have a good look at the legislation, as to whether the United Kingdom model should continue to be the model we adopt, particularly given the fact that so much of the copyright law of that country now includes material that has come from the European Union, or whether we should look further afield to United States models, the Singaporean model, or the Australian model. Those are very important questions.

As I said, copyright law was initially designed to protect literary works, but now we have to deal with the Internet age—the digital age, Internet applications, and so on. So copyright law is very important legislation. It is legislation that I think needs to be systematically and comprehensively reviewed on a regular basis. I know we cannot do that for every piece of legislation, because otherwise a tight and tough legislative timetable would become even worse than it is now. But it was with that in mind that the subcommittee that dealt with the Evidence Bill in 2006 urged the Government to incorporate the provision that is now in section 202 of the Evidence Act 2006, which provides for a mandatory periodic review of the operation of the Act, I think every 5 years. That is a very good way of looking at some legislation. The legislation we are dealing with here is too important to allow it to go off the boil, because then one is required, by way of amendment, to insert into a bill concepts that may sometimes be completely different from those already in the legislation, and the process of amendment can undermine the structure of the legislation.

So I am heartened that the Minister has said—and indeed the report of the Commerce Committee on the bill states—that the Ministry of Economic Development will be reviewing this legislation in 5 years’ time to ensure that copyright law is keeping pace with technological advances. Of course, the Minister has foreshadowed another copyright amendment bill in the next period to deal with the commissioning rule. I imagine it will also deal with issues related to artists’ royalties, and so on.

We have come a long way, even in 20 years. I can recall that the first copyright case I did was in the late 1980s. It was based on the 1962 Act. It was an interesting case, all about whether a fellow called Hughie Green had the copyright in the format of a talent quest programme called Opportunity Knocks. When the Privy Council biffed out his appeal, I recall that the Daily Mail, I think it was, said “Opportunity flops—or flip-flops”. The reality of the matter is that the 1962 Act was designed for a set of events or a set of issues that we really are a world away from.

💬 Hon Mark Burton: Didn’t Hughie Green’s programme actually start in the 1960s?

I think that it did; indeed, it did. The issue was whether Television New Zealand had breached copyright by taking the format of the programme. There would be an introduction, like “Mark Burton, opportunity knocks”, and then there would be an interesting thing called the clapometer, and so on. It was all very interesting, but it is a million miles away from the copyright issues we are dealing with today.

However, I tell the Committee that Mr Green did say to me that format protection would be a huge issue. He said that we should look 20 years hence, when most of what was on television would in some way be a format programme, and I think he was quite right about that. I know attempts have been made in the United Kingdom to deal with the issue of format protection.

There we have it. Copyright is a hugely important issue, and it is one that is too important for it to become the subject of party politics. Certainly, notwithstanding the fact that we received the Minister’s Supplementary Order Paper fairly late in the day, we have tried to engage in the debate in a sensible and principled way, because this issue is too important to engage in party politics on. If members of the commercial community had concerns as a result of the hearings in the Commerce Committee, then they needed to be dealt with, and that is why the Minister’s Supplementary Order Paper has been taken on board by the Opposition. Thank you.

I will take just a brief call to say for the benefit of the people who are listening to and viewing this debate tonight that I did love the previous speaker’s reference to 1712. Wow, there we go. I am sure that in 2012 it will be roughly time for a further review—300 years; there we go. I am someone who struggles sometimes with the different technologies. I remember the tape recorder we had even before the cassette—the reel tape recorder—and now the Minister tells me about podcasts and iPods. It is a bit sad perhaps that I should have to ask our Minister in the chair, the Hon Judith Tizard, about these things. But again this legislation is about a very interesting issue. It concerns our young people and the transmission of music, and whether we have the appropriate protection for what we would call the corner record store—the DVD store, the retailer—and the producers. We have to find out how to work through some of those vexed issues, given that to be able to copy is quite easy.

In summary, I would say that this legislation really stresses the fact that intellectual property plays a major role in moving towards a knowledge-based economy. Supporting research and development is critical in achieving an economic transformation, and I do not think that we should underestimate the critical importance of this bill. Personally I want to thank very much the individual members, from all parties, of the Commerce Committee for the tireless work they have done over many, many hours in order to help the rest of us to get our heads around what is, frankly, a very important issue. It is an important issue for this Parliament, but it is certainly also important for our nation and our economy. Thank you.

I assure Christopher Finlayson that this process is about ongoing review. It is not necessarily the case that any particular part of the Act will be left for 5 years. There are issues around the Rugby World Cup in 2011 and around protecting the right of the organisers of that merchandise. There are a whole lot of other issues.

I compliment the copyright industry generally. It is now actively working to police what it does to protect and assert its rights and it has employed excellent people like Tony Eaton to assist in that. We are getting very good feedback. I would actually say that the consultation is almost continuous now. I know that the Copyright Council met today. We will get feedback, and there will be more legislation. There is no question of that, because as long as human beings are innovative they will find ways around any law protecting anything like copyright material.

I thank members of the Committee for their enthusiasm on this issue and assure them that there will be more of it.

Clause 1 agreed to.

The question was put that the amendment set out on Supplementary Order Paper 193 in the name of the Hon Judith Tizard to clause 2 be agreed to.

Amendment agreed to.

Clause 2 as amended agreed to.

Clause 2A agreed to.

Bill to be reported with amendment presently.

House resumed.

The Chairperson reported the Biosecurity and Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Legislation Amendment Bill with amendment, and that the Committee divided it into two bills; the Securities (Local Authority Exemption) Amendment Bill without amendment; and the Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Bill with amendment.

Report adopted.

The House adjourned at 9.57 p.m.