[Osia-members] OSIA March/April update

[Jack Burton]

Afternoon, all.

It's been a busy couple of months at OSIA.

** Trans Pacific Partnership **

On 11 March, OSIA lodged a submission to the Joint Standing Committee
on Treaties (JSCOT) regarding TPP. JSCOT considered our submission and
approved it for publication in mid April. We argued strongly on a
number of fronts against ratifying TPP, which the board views as a
significant threat to the ongoing success of the OSS industry in
Australia.

Copies of our submission can be obtained here:
http://www.osia.com.au/drupal7/sites/default/files/default/osia_sub_201603_jscot.pdf
or here:
http://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=ec75f856-7e07-4cc7-827e-fbf3f7d65055&subId=410548

The full list of submissions lodged (many of which also make
interesting reading) is here:
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Treaties/9_February_2016/Submissions

** OSIA welcomes new sponsor: Anchor Systems **

Anchor Systems -- http://www.anchor.com.au -- have come on board as
OSIA's newest bronze sponsor. 

The board thanks Anchor for their generosity, and invites any member not
yet aware of their offerings to take a moment to check them out.

** Productivity Commission Inquiry into IP arrangements **

On 11 March, OSIA Director, Public Policy (Domestic) Aimee Maree
Forsstrom and I met with several of the Commission's economists to
discuss aspects of our initial submission to the Inquiry that were of
interest to them, principally a number of the points we had raised in
relation to patents.

Today (29 Apr), the Commission released its interim report, here:
http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/current/intellectual-property/draft/intellectual-property-draft.pdf

At 601 pages, I hope you'll forgive me for not having read the entire
document yet. However, what I have read so far seems encouraging. Here
are a couple of the highlights from their draft recommendations:

DR7.1: "The Australian Government should abolish the innovation patent
system."

DR8.1: "The Australian Government should amend s. 18 of the Patents Act
1990 (Cth) to explicitly exclude business methods and software from
being patentable subject matter."

The Commission clearly listened to what we had to say. Their interim
report quotes our submission (pp. 431 & 432), references it elsewhere
(pp. 172 & 222) and also quotes (p. 248) & references (pp. 247 & 248)
our 2013 submission to ACIP's review of the innovation patent system.

The board will be considering the Commission's interim report over the
coming weeks, and we intend to lodge a final submission thereafter.

Any interested members with sufficient time & capability to contribute
to the final submission are invited to contact Aimee Maree or me before
Fri 6 May.

** Meeting with NSW DFSI **

On 7 Mar, I met with representatives of the NSW Department of Finance,
Services & Innovation, regarding the upcoming reviews of the NSW
Government's ProcureIT framework & ICT Services Scheme and to work
towards closer collaboration between OSIA & DFSI in general.

One of the outcomes of that meeting is that OSIA will from time to time
be notifying out members of relevant public DFSI industry events in NSW
(such as the industry forum next week -- see my post of yesterday).

In addition, OSIA Director (Communications) Jessica Field will be
working with DFSI to put together a series of dedicated events designed
to help OSIA members engage more effectively with NSW Government
agencies and to help the agencies engage more effectively with the
Australian OSS sector.

In parallel, I will continue to liaise with DFSI on the two upcoming
reviews.

** Member referral service **

The member referral service has entered an initial, restricted trial
phase. A broader trial will be launched during May -- stay tuned for
more information from OSIA Director (Member Services), Paul Foxworthy.

** Board meetings **

The board met in Sydney on 5 Mar and again by teleconference on 4 Apr.
The board will next meet on 6 May, in Sydney.

As always, OSIA members are encouraged to bring any pertinent matters
(and indeed your views on them) to the attention of the Board, either
on this list or by contacting any of us directly.

Regards,


Jack Burton
<jack at saosce.com.au>