Update: On October 27, the Australian Government announced it would not move forward with proposals to adopt Text and Data Mining exceptions in Australian copyright law. The announcement, published by the attorney general, noted that “the Government stands behind Australia’s creative industries and, by ruling out a Text and Data Mining Exception, is providing certainty to Australian creators.” The announcement is a major win, informed by pushback from publishers and the creative industries following the Productivity Commission’s earlier consultation on their interim report that considered a TDM exception to incentivize AI development in Australia. N/MA will monitor subsequent development in Australia on potential copyright updates.
On September 12, the News/Media Alliance submitted comments to the Australian Productivity Commission in response to the Commission’s interim report on Harnessing Data and Digital Technology. The report, aimed at identifying priority reforms and actionable recommendations, discussed the possibility of creating a TDM exception to incentivize AI development in Australia. The comments focused on providing the Commission with background about how the U.S. copyright system deals with questions related to AI uses and correcting misconceptions regarding the assumed benefits of TDM exceptions. In particular, the submission noted that U.S. copyright law is fundamentally an opt-in regime and does not provide for a blanket exception for AI-related copying. The comments also cautioned that adopting a TDM exception would move Australia further away from the United States. Read the full comments here.
