Issues involving the balance of copyright law are of "increasing concern" to artists, given the tougher legal provisions being sought by some industry groups, Wellington artist Bronwyn Holloway-Smith says.
She is the director and co-founder of the Creative Freedom Foundation, established in 2008 in response to proposed changes to internet-related laws that "threatened to undermine artists' and public rights".
Mrs Holloway-Smith gave a talk at the Otago Polytechnic School of Art yesterday on "an artist's case for `fair use' in New Zealand", during the "Art and Law" symposium sponsored by the University of Otago Faculty of Law and the school.
Copyright was a legal concept giving the creators of original artistic works a temporary monopoly over their work for a limited time, "with the presumption that this will encourage further creativity and innovation", she said.
Importantly, copyright also aimed to balance private property rights with specific public rights in a way that encouraged public and professional engagement with creative works.
This public aspect of copyright law meant there were many legitimate uses of copyrighted material that did not require the rights-holder's permission. Here, this was called "fair dealing".
In the United States, greater freedom of expression was provided for, through a concept of "fair use", linked to the US constitutional right to freedom of speech.
New Zealand did not have a "parody and satire" exception to its copyright law, although Australia had already established this.
She gave several examples of New Zealand artistic works that could be protected by a US-style "fair use" approach but had been challenged under existing New Zealand law.
Several years ago, a satirical version of a telecommunications company advertisement had been posted on the internet, but the firm sought to have the satirical version removed because of claimed breach of copyright involving the original advertisement.
Allowing more legal scope for "parody and satire" would be of "lasting benefit" to New Zealand artists, she said.
