COPYRIGHT 2010: THE FUTURE OF COPYRIGHT LAW

Abstract

2006 marked the 30th anniversary of the US Copyright Act 1976,1 2008 marks the 40th anniversary of the Australian Copyright Act 19682 and 2010 marks the 300th anniversary of the Statute of Anne. There is no doubt that concepts about how to manage, control and share knowledge, culture and creativity existed in societies well before 1709/103 but it is the Statute of Anne that is the symbolic birthplace of what we know as modern copyright law.4 As we enter an era of unprecedented knowledge and cultural production and dissemination we are challenged to reconsider the fundamentals of copyright law and how it serves the needs of life, liberty and economy in the 21st century. More radical proposals advocate the abolition of any legislative and regulatory regime in order to leave the trading (both commercial and non commercial) of ideas to other mechanisms such as politics, the market or social networks. More moderate reforms – within the framework of the current regime – have been the centre of discussion at Professor Hugh Hansen’s Fordham International Intellectual Property Conference (2007), a specialist workshop run by Professor Pamela Samuelson in July 2007 in Napa Valley5 and will be further discussed at a world congress proposed by creative economy guru and Adelphi Charter6 figurehead John Howkins7 to celebrate or commiserate the Statute of Anne in 2010.