The Parliament of Australia has passed the Copyright Amendment (Disability Access and Other Measures) Bill 2017. The passage of the Bill means it will be even simpler for students to access a huge range of content, libraries will be able to exhibit more material to the Australian public and people with disabilities will be able to access copyright material more easily.The changes enabled by the Copyright Amendment (Disability Access and Other Measures) Bill 2017:
- Simplify the statutory licences for education and make it easier for students to access material and extend the exception for exams to online exams
- Simplify and update provisions that enable libraries and other collecting institutions to make ‘preservation copies’ of material in their collections such as manuscripts
- Introduce a fixed term of protection for unpublished works (that are currently covered by copyright indefinitely) making it easier for libraries to exhibit material to the Australian public
- Simplify and update the provisions that allow accessible format versions for people with disabilities
You can read more about the Bill here, or at the link below.