Reconciling Crown Copyright and Reuse of Government Information: An Analysis of the CLRC Crown Copyright Review

Abstract

Despite the far-reaching implications of the recommendations made by the Copyright Law Review Committee in its final Crown Copyright report in April 2005, little attention, either academic or otherwise, has been given to these suggested changes. Given the increasing emphasis on the importance of reusability of government information, the ramifications of the CLRC recommendations must be evaluated to establish whether these proposals are the best approach to fulfilling both present and future demands for this information. This article maps the traditional arguments in favour of and against Crown copyright before discussing reusability of public sector information and the impact of Crown copyright on this growing practice. It continues with an analysis of the major recommendations made by the CLRC in order to evaluate the effect and impact of these proposals on both the reuse issue and the Australian copyright landscape more generally.

Keywords: Crown copyright, government copyright, reusability, government information, law reform