Fears sports fans will be 'worse off' after copyright changes

Knee-jerk changes to copyright law to appease the major sporting codes
could prevent people from recording live sports and inhibit innovation
in online services, copyright experts say.
The Federal Government has been paving the way for changes to
copyright law after heavy lobbying of the Prime Minister and senior
ministers by the sporting codes. It follows a recent court ruling that
allows Optus to broadcast delayed video of matches to its mobile phone
network.
But copyright experts and Optus have warned the government that
changing copyright laws to suit one interest group could have
disastrous consequences for consumers and the industry.
The landmark Federal Court ruling found that Optus' TV Now service was
simply a form of free-to-air consumer time-shifting that is already
permitted in copyright law. Optus is now free to continue transmitting
TV footage of live football matches on delays of one to two minutes to
Apple mobile devices.
The sporting codes - including the AFL, Cricket Australia, the NRL and
Tennis Australia - want "simple" changes to the Copyright Act to allow
them to continue to sell exclusive rights to their digital content to
broadcasters.
The AFL and Telstra are appealing the Federal Court ruling arguing
that Optus recording shows on behalf of customers is very different to
a consumer recording a show on their home PVR.

Think of the children: govt
But the government appears to already be siding with the sporting
codes, with Sports Minister Mark Arbib on the weekend saying that
children's sport funding depended on the changes to copyright law.
Describing the court ruling as a "big hit for sport", Arbib told Sky
News' Australian Agenda that if the case stands then "their revenues
will take a big hit".
"And as a Sports Minister the reason I am concerned about that is,
when it plays itself out, that the big losers will be those kids out
on the sporting playing fields," he said.
Kimberlee Weatherall, an associate professor in Sydney University's
Faculty of Law, wrote a recent piece for Crikey warning of the risks
of changing the law.
She said if changes were made to the Copyright Act excluding online
services from time-shifting exceptions, it could have "disastrous"
consequences for online innovation in Australia and, depending on the
specific changes adopted, could mean "every cloud operator would need
copyright licenses for any copyright material on their servers".

Football fans left 'worse off'
Weatherall said a second possible change could be to exclude live
sport from the time shifting provisions of the law, which would mean
consumers would infringe copyright law if they recorded live sport at
home.
She said certain changes to the law would be worse than others but
"any change to the time-shifting exception leaves football fans worse
off," she said.
Asked for comment on Arbib's remarks, Weatherall said "of course
they're paving the way for copyright changes".
David Vaile, executive director of the UNSW Cyberspace Law and Policy
Centre, said the government's response to this issue and its meetings
with copyright holders over possible anti-piracy laws showed it was
more concerned with helping corporate interests prop up their aging
business models than protecting users.
"Attempts to ban online systems for time-shifting could easily end up
extending more liability to users," he said.
Peter Black, a senior lecturer in law at the Queensland University of
Technology, said it was "very concerning" that the federal government
was considering changes to copyright laws following the Optus
decision.
"Not only would any amendments before all avenues of appeal have been
exhausted be premature but there is a very real possibly that any
rushed, reactionary amendments could have unintended consequences on
the operation of the Copyright Act, as well as sending the wrong
message to innovators with the technology sector in Australia," he
said.

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