Review of the Copyright Act 1994: Issues Paper

Summary

During November 2018 – April 2019 we consulted on an Issues Paper as part of our review of the Copyright Act 1994. This was the first stage of public consultation on the Copyright Act review.

The purpose of the Issues Paper was to seek feedback on how well the copyright regime is functioning and on further evidence of issues that could be addressed in the review.

The Issues Paper provided an introduction to copyright concepts and our copyright regime, our proposed objectives for New Zealand’s copyright regime and potential issues with the way the copyright regime is working.

We appreciate the time and effort contributed by everyone who has participated in our consultation process. We also want to acknowledge the contribution many people previously made (particularly those who worked with us on the Creative Sector Study [PDF, 2.2 MB]) to our understanding of the changing landscape of the copyright system and practices within it.

Now that the consultation period on the Issues Paper has closed, we are reviewing the submissions and feedback received. This will help inform the development of a paper that will set out potential options for change to the copyright regime.

What we heard during the issues stage consultation

We received 148 written submissions on the Issues Paper. We have produced a summary of these submissions and published them.

Submitters who wished to remain anonymous are referred to as ‘anonymous submitter’. Eleven submitters requested for their submissions to remain confidential. These submissions have not been published.

Read the summary of submissions [PDF, 3.4 MB]

Read submissions on the Issues Paper(external link)

If you would like to receive updates about the review:

Subscribe to our mailing list(external link)

Workshops

In February and March 2019, we hosted four public workshops in Christchurch, Auckland and Wellington to encourage and facilitate conversations about the copyright regime and the issues explored in the Issues Paper.

These workshops were an opportunity for people interested in copyright to work with us to improve our understanding of the issues, exchange information with each other, and hear different perspectives.

In each workshop, we ran three rounds of group-based discussions on given topics, according to the preferences of participants. MBIE officials used a brief presentation to start and conclude each workshop.

Scene-setting presentation used for workshops on Copyright Issues Paper [PDF, 234 KB]

Each group made notes of their conversations on flipcharts. We have recorded in full and published below the combined notes on each topic. Our purpose is to set out accurately what was recorded for those who were unable to attend the workshops or for participants who are interested in discussions on other topics. Please note:

• The notes reflect only those points raised by participants that were recorded on the day, and are not necessarily a full reflection of all of the issues arising under each topic.
• The notes are verbatim with the exception of some minor corrections and annotated comments, to clarify certain points as we understand them.
• For brevity, the notes have been structured according to sub-topics and themes.

Discussion notes – main topics

The discussions were largely based on the seven topics that participants indicated a preference for discussing when they registered to attend one of the workshops:

Discussion notes – other comments relating to parts of the Issues Paper

There were a variety of other discussions that took place at the workshops that did not necessarily relate to one of the topic areas above. Notes from these discussions have been organised under different parts of the Issues Paper: