New Law Boosts Nz Fight Against Pirates

The New Zealand music industry has a new legislative weapon in the battle against piracy.

The Nov. 4 adoption into law of the Copyright (Parallel Importation of Films and Onus of Proof) Amendment Bill provides local copyright owners with a major deterrent to deploy against importers of pirated products.

Under previous legislation, it was time-consuming—and costly—for copyright owners to take action against importers of pirated goods.

For a civil action to succeed, rights owners needed to track the suspect goods to their country of origin, then prove that they were made there without the permission of the rights holder. Even then, an importer could claim that they believed the goods were genuine.

Now, a copyright owner will have to prove that the importer knew, or reasonably ought to have known, that the goods were pirated. The onus will be on the importer to prove that his or her goods are legitimate.

BURDEN HAS SHIFTED

"These changes make it easier for rights holders to take action against persons blatantly importing pirated material," says Judith Tizard, the government's associate commerce minister.

Anthony Hosking, an intellectual property specialist at the Auckland office of law firm Minter Ellison Rudd Watts, adds: "The change to onus of proof is a significant plus for the music industry."

Labels body the Recording Industry Assn. of New Zealand (RIANZ) embraces the new law.

"Currently, New Zealand Customs are active in apprehending the flow of counterfeit CDs, especially from Pakistan," RIANZ CEO Terence O'Neill-Joyce says. "This new law will make their task that much easier."

According to RIANZ, much of the counterfeit material from Pakistan is DVDs and soundtrack CDs of "Bollywood" movies.

The new legislation also bans the import of DVDs and videos for a period of nine months after a title's release overseas. Parallel imports of music remain legal. O'Neill-Joyce says RIANZ is disappointed that the parallel-import ban only applies to video product.

Tizard says the changes form part of the New Zealand government's commitment to encouraging the growth of the country's creative industries and ensuring that its intellectual property regime is balanced and robust.

The government is now waiting to see whether the new law will assuage U.S. concerns about copyright protection in New Zealand.

Earlier this year, New Zealand was included on the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's Special 301 watch list, which rates the effectiveness of intellectual-property protection around the world.

The USTR had expressed concern about a lack of action on parallel imports and urged the New Zealand government to adopt legislation that would counteract the erosion of copyright.