ITNews reports that eBay has joined Australia’s competition watchdog in urging the Government to iron out technology-specific “anomalies” in cloud copyright law that could harm the development of cloud services.
The two organisations are among 181 so far to make submissions to an Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) issues paper. Submissions were published yesterday.
The ALRC sought views on whether current copyright laws impede “the development or delivery of cloud services”, and whether or not those laws should be neutralised or exceptions created to allow the lawful operation of cloud services. (pdf)
The cloud issue was brought to the fore after the Federal Court banned Optus’ TV Now service, which allowed users to record and view television programs on their mobile devices.
eBay noted in its submission that TV Now had “muddied rather than clarified the law” as it applied to operating cloud services that interacted with copyrighted content. (pdf)
The auction site said the decision created “serious disincentives for the development of cloud services in Australia”.
Full story here.