As a global community of mission-driven scholarly publishers, the Association asserts that current copyright laws protect the rights holder from the unauthorized use of their work and should be upheld. The ability of rightsholders to control uses of their works is fundamental, and legal changes should not be made that make it harder for individuals to protect their work yet easier for companies to obtain copyrighted content.
October 21, 2026: The Association has joined more than 60 organizations worldwide, including the International Publishers Association and the Association of American Publishers, in signing a letter to the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese regarding potential copyright law reforms there. Organized by the News/Media Alliance, the letter expresses concern about changing copyright laws to make it easier for AI developers to use works without explicit permission from copyright holders.
As a global community that includes 3 member presses in Australia, AUPresses joins in urging the Australian government to continue to honor existing copyright law and international treaties—including the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, the WIPO Copyright Treaty, and the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement—that set requirements regarding rightsholders’ rights to control the reproduction and availability of their works.
Read the letter and joint press release.
March 18, 2026: The UK government published a Copyright and Artificial Intelligence report, indicating that it is moving away from the “opt out” model for rightsholders’ work being used for AI training and reporting that this model was “overwhelmingly rejected by the vast majority of the creative industries.” However, the report suggests further copyright exceptions may still be considered.
March 15, 2025: The Association submitted summary comments on the US AI Action Plan to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. In these comments, AUPresses also expressed support for comments made by the American Association of Publishers.
February 25, 2025: The Association of University Presses submitted comments to the UK Consultation on Copyright and AI.
The Association has also joined the Creative Rights in AI Coalition which supports similar goals, articulated in its “Make It Fair” campaign.
Also of interest
Executive Director Peter Berkery comments on AUPresses members’ concerns in “Book Biz to Big Tech: Pay Up, Then We Can Make Up,” Publishers Weekly (March 21, 2025).