EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Subject - Copyright Amendment (Film Directors’ Rights) Act 2005
Proclamation
Schedule 1 of the Copyright Amendment (Film Directors’ Rights) Act 2005 (the Act) amends section 98 of the Copyright Act 1968 to give, for the first time, film directors, in certain circumstances, a share of the copyright in the films that they direct.
Subsection 2 (1) of the Act provides that Schedule 1 to the Act commences on a day to be fixed by Proclamation. However, if any of the provisions of Schedule 1 do not commence within six months of the date the Act receives the Royal Assent, those provisions will commence on the first day after the end of that six month period. The Act received Royal Assent on 8 November 2005 and the provisions, other than Schedule 1, commenced on that date.
The purpose of the Proclamation is to fix 19 December 2005 as the day on which Schedule 1 to the Act commences.
The amendments contained in Schedule 1 relate to the retransmission statutory licence in Part VC of the Copyright Act 1968. The retransmission statutory licence allows free-to-air broadcasts to be retransmitted without permission from copyright owners of works, films and sound recordings included in the broadcasts, provided the retransmitter pays equitable remuneration to the declared collecting society (Screenrights) for those copyright owners. Since free-to-air providers do not usually retransmit each others’ broadcasts, the scheme in practice applies only to pay-television providers who wish to retransmit free-to-air broadcasts.
By virtue of Schedule 1 to the Act, directors are able to share, as copyright owners, in remuneration payable by pay-TV services for the retransmission of their films in free-to-air broadcasts. The amendments apply to films that begin production after the commencement of Schedule 1 to the Act, but rights arising under contracts entered into before that date are preserved.
The commencement date enables film directors to enjoy the benefit of the amendments at an earlier date. The commencement date was determined after consultation with industry associations and copyright interest groups.
The Proclamation is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.