Consultation round opened for new copyright act in Sweden

A government committee appointed by the Swedish Government proposed a new copyright act to replace the present (Swedish) Act on Copyright in Literary and Artistic Works, which came into force in 1961. The interesting part of this new law is that no substantial changes of the law have been proposed, despite the emergence of the internet and the advancing digitalisation since the 1960s.

According to the proposal, all provisions of the current copyright act will be transferred to the new copyright act, with editorial and linguistic amendments. No new or amended regulations are proposed; only changes of a linguistic and editorial nature. The purpose of the proposal is to make the new copyright act more understandable and easily accessible to stakeholders and the general public.

The text has been submitted to the Minister of Justice, Beatrice Ask. Its contents have also been released for public consultation and sent to relevant right holders, authorities, advocacy groups etcetera. The public consultation round is open until the middle of October 2011. It will be very interesting to see whether the proposal still says no fundamental change to the law is needed to accommodate its application in our present daily life, after all stakeholders have been able to express their views on the future of copyright in Sweden. From November onwards, the government formulates a more definitive  legislative proposal. The new copyright act is due to enter into force on 1 January 2013.

Source: Government of Sweden