For those who aren&#x27;t familiar, the Productivity Commission is a major Australian Government advisory body&#x2F;think tank that conducts public inquiries into matters of economic policy. The Government requested a broad report into the economic effectiveness of the intellectual property system.<p>This report is a draft - the Commission is presently taking public submissions that will be considered for the final report later this year.<p>Highlights from the findings and recommendations:<p>* 70 years after death is far too long a term for copyright - it would be more appropriate to limit copyright to 15-25 years after creation (noting that this has implications for international copyright treaties)<p>* Make it explicitly legal to evade geoblocking<p>* Repeal Australia&#x27;s &quot;parallel import&quot; restrictions on books<p>* Replace Australia&#x27;s present &quot;fair dealing&quot; exemptions with a US-style &quot;fair use&quot; clause which would be much broader in scope<p>* Ban software patents and business method patents<p>* Reform pharmaceutical patents in various ways<p>* Government should adopt an Open Access policy for publicly funded research<p>All of which seems in line with what I consider sensible policy reform. Of course, whether the Government will consider any of these recommendations at all is a completely different question...