The Library Bulletin

• The Copyright Agency says it has been ‘pushed to the last resort’ and is suing the NSW Government over the non-payment of fees for copyrighted material being shared within and between state government agencies. “The NSW Government is the only government in Australia refusing to pay a fair rate for using the copyright material of our members,” said Copyright Agency CEO Adam Suckling. “For five years we have attempted to get the NSW Government to recognise the value in tens of millions of pages of author, publisher, researcher, photographer, cartoonist and journalist content. It is not the first time the agency has taken the NSW to court to assert its rights. In 2008 it won a case in which the government claimed it owned the copyright to surveyor’s plans. The suit says that the Government owes the agency $7.5 million in unpaid fees, covering the five years since it last paid any money for the use of copyrighted material.