COMMENTARY--Last week saw two legal wins for copyright owners in their battle against piracy, but raised questions of whether large corporations are playing fair in the marketplace. If corporations are so keen on globalisation and having a 'level playing field', lets see them walk the walk themselves.

One of the major features to arise from the battle between copyright-owners and pirates is the fact that in Australia it is illegal to make a back-up copy of legally obtained copyrighted material for personal use. I'll say that again, since it is a controversial statement and not many people believe it: it is illegal to make a back-up copy of legally obtained copyrighted material for personal use.

Although this issue didn't come out in the recent case between the music industry and universities over access to the latter's networks to seek evidence of copyright infringement (that case rejected the notion that privacy laws could interfere with copyright owners demanding access), the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) states that consumers shouldn't make copies of music they've purchased.

Speaking at yet another conference on how music piracy is destroying the music industry, ARIA CEO Stephen Peach said it is illegal to make back-up copies of legally purchased music for personal use, and went on to deny the activity was acceptable. "Once you legitimise home copying then everything becomes home copying," he said.

Likewise, in its response to the ruling that mod-chips designed to circumvent technical protection measures (TPMs) were illegal Sony Computer Entertainment managing director Michael Ephraim pointed out the Full Court had reaffirmed that there is no right to make a backup copy of a PlayStation game, something that was disputed in the initial hearing.

This is despite Section 47C of the Copyright Act 1968 [PDF] that allows consumers to make back-up copies of software programs for personal use, an exemption that is specifically for software.

OK, so if it's illegal to make back-up copies of copyright material for personal use, then the question is: should it be? Many people prefer to burn copies of their (legally purchased) CDs so that if the CD is scratched they lose a couple of dollars rather than $30. If this is illegal, should record companies perhaps provide warranties for their products?

Interestingly, it is legal to make a recording (for personal use) of something that has been broadcast (Section 111 of the Copyright Act 1968). Personally, I don't see much difference between that and making a copy of a CD for personal use. However, the law does.

Another interesting issue that has been raised numerous times is the fact that Sony -- which ferociously defends its copyrighted material in the music, video games and film industries -- sells many devices that allow the copying of those works. From DVD burners to MP3 players, the entertainment giant makes a lot of money selling hardware that seems to encourage Australians to break the copyright laws.

Of course, it's not the only company that sells these devices, but it stands out by straddling both sides of the fence. If you think this sounds a bit schizophrenic, you won't be that surprised to hear that Sony has sued itself over these issues.

Another issue raised by the Sony vs Stevens case on mod-chips was the legitimacy of region encoding, which allows hardware manufacturers to sell items in a region that will only read software intended for that region.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission claims "region coding is detrimental to consumers as it severely limits their choice and, in some cases, access to competitively priced goods".

The ACCC said the practice seems to conflict with recently introduced laws allowing parallel importing, which is the commercial importation of legitimate copyrighted goods without needing permission from the Australian copyright owner.

This means that Australian copyright owners can no longer keep prices artificially inflated, because Australians can import the material from overseas where prices are more reasonable. Region coding may not break the letter of the Copyright (Parallel Importation) Bill 2003, but it certainly seems to break the spirit of it.

Companies seem to be getting all the benefits of globalisation -- cheaper manufacturing costs by taking grunt work to developing countries -- without passing on the benefits of globalisation in the form of lower prices. I'm all for reasonable copyright protection -- as my colleague Alex Kidman has pointed out -- I make my living creating copyrighted material -- but it's time the government started considering what is fair to the consumer as well as the corporations. After all, in a capitalist society one of the most important roles of a democratic government is to keep a check on what companies do.

I feel the Federal Government, who have been chanting the "level playing field" mantra for years now, should enact legislation banning the use of region coding and any other device intended to circumvent the laws of this country. They should also change the Copyright Act 1968 so that making a copy of legally purchased copyright material for personal use does not infringe that copyright. Sure, there will be howls from ARIA, but they're not running this country. At least, they shouldn't be.

But I'm not going to stop there. I call on all musicians to put pressure on their labels to include permission to make a back-up copy for personal use of their songs on all albums.

And last, but certainly not least, I'm sure we would all hope that consumers would continue to purchase copyright material legally. Sure, there's a lot of anger at record companies for overcharging and ripping off their own artists, but theft will only make the situation worse.

Do you have an opinion on copyright laws? E-mail us at edit@zdnet.com.au.

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