The case for fair use in New Zealand

Abstract

Copyright’s exceptions are being taken seriously: a number of jurisdictions have expanded their exceptions by granting new broad user rights, some going so far as to enact fair use. The Australian Copyright Law Review Commission (ALRC), when tasked with determining whether copyright exceptions were fit for purpose, concluded that the expansion of copyright exceptions was necessary if copyright was to remain as a central driver of creation and innovation in Australia. The ALRC found that creativity and innovation was being stifled by unnecessarily and unjustified narrow and antiquated exceptions and people were unwittingly infringing copyright simply by engaging in reasonable everyday activities. The ALRC recommended fair use as the way of remedying copyright’s ills. The article argues that New Zealand should adopt a broad fair use right as that proposed by the ALRC.