Australian Digital Alliance reports copyright reform ‘could add $600m to economy’

A new report for the Australian Digital Alliance by Lateral Economics claims Australian copyright laws are holding back innovation, and with reform to make copyright more flexible and technology-neutral will add $600m annually to the economy.The announcement:

Australia’s copyright regime is currently holding back innovation, but making copyright more flexible and technology-neutral will, over time, add $600m in annual productivity gains to the economy.

These findings are contained in two new reports prepared by Lateral Economics for the Australian Digital Alliance (a short snapshot of the reports with more detail is attached).

“The reports, Exceptional Industries and Excepting the Future, calculate for the first time the value of the ‘copyright exceptions sector’ and value it at $182 billion dollars per annum, or 14% of Australia’s GDP” according to Dr Nicholas Gruen, who authored the reports with Professor John Houghton.