Australia’s creative industries are savoring a hard-fought victory, as the federal government stamps out controversial proposals that would weaken copyright law.

A slew of tech companies had lobbied for an amendment to Australia’s Copyright Act, outlined in Harnessing Data and Digital Technology, the Productivity Commission’s interim report which recommended a new fair dealing exception to allow for text and data mining (TDM).

Should the tech sector get its wishes, warned reps from the across the cultural communities, the exemption would enable AI specialists to use copyright-protected works without permission or payment for training their systems. The end result would crater the music space, creatives have said, and would legitimize the industrial-scale theft of music and other cultural

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