Australia to Amend Copyright Act on Software Decomplilation

JOINT MEDIA RELEASE Senator the Hon Richard Alston
Minister for Communications,
Information Technology and the Arts

The Hon Daryl Williams AM QC
Attorney-General         

COPYRIGHT CHANGES TO HELP AUSTRALIAN SOFTWARE INDUSTRY The Government will amend provisions of the Copyright Act which discriminate against the Australian software industry, the Attorney-General, Mr Daryl Williams, and the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Richard Alston, announced today.

The amendments will make the Australian software industry more internationally competitive by bringing copyright law in Australia more into line with that of our major trading partners.

Software engineers in the European Union and the United States are allowed to decompile software, where necessary, for the development of interoperable products, but the current Copyright Act makes it illegal for Australian software engineers to do so.

The changes will encourage computer program copyright owners to make available the information needed about their programs for making compatible products and security testing computer networks.

If copyright owners unreasonably refuse or are unable to provide the information, Australian software developers will be able to decompile the programs to discover it. Decompilation will also be allowed to correct errors in a program if the copyright owner cannot supply an error-free version.

Decompiling computer programs will not be allowed for other purposes such as producing software that directly competes with the original product. Nor can information derived from decompilation be used for other purposes. The changes will not in any way weaken the existing sanctions against making pirate copies of computer programs.

These changes will allow the Australian information industries to make hardware and software products that are compatible with existing computer programs a move which will cater for the niche market specialists who are a feature of the Australian software industry. The amendments will also allow for the increasingly important task of security testing of computer networks.

The change to allow decompliation for the correction of errors in computer programs will help combat the Y2K bug. These Y2K amendments will have effect from today, in recognition of the urgent nature of this work. All other amendments will have effect from Royal Assent.

The amendments originate from recommendations in the 1995 report of the Copyright Law Review Committee (CLRC) on Computer Software Protection.

Media Contact:      Nick Harford, Mr Williams's office 02 6277 7300
                    Terry O'Connor, Senator Alston's office 02 6277 7480
                    Website:  http://www.richardalston.dcita.gov.au/

19/99
23 February 1999 Received on Wed Feb 24 1999 - 21:52:01 GMT