In 1709 the first English copyright statute (the “Act of Anne”) outlawed the unauthorised reproduction of literary works, and imposed monetary fines payable in equal share or “moeity” to the Crown and the copyright holder, along with compulsory forfeiture and destruction of infringing copies. The division of labour between public and private in the enforcement of intellectual property rights has become somewhat less well defined since, though a public role is clearly entailed by the inclusion of criminal infringement provisions in modern copyright and trademarks legislation. Part of the difficulty lies in the limited capacity of public law enforcement agencies to deal with all demands on their resources, along with a reluctance to intervene in what is often seen as private commercial disputation. Added to this are rapid changes in technology, which provide new opportunities both for the infringement of intellectual property rights and their protection.
This Trends and Issues paper assesses the role of public enforcement of intellectual property rights through the recent experience of Australian customs, police and prosecution agencies.
This is a revised version of a larger AIC report entitled Parallel Importing and CD Piracy written for the Intellectual Property and Competition Review (ICPR) Committee, which reported to Federal Parliament in September 2000.
This research was considered by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs in its December 2000 report Cracking down on copycats: Enforcement of Copyright in Australia, and by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee in its May 2001 Inquiry into the Provisions of the Copyright Amendment (Parallel Importation) Bill 2001.