Q. Norway
Q1. Advice is that the Norwegian Marketing Act and Norwegian Copyright Act ban fake goods and piracy copies and that criminal actions can be taken.
Q2. Further there are provisions that fake and piracy goods may be stopped at Customs.
Q3. Norway is not part of the European Union but advice is that Norwegian intellectual property laws are almost fully harmonised with European Union Directives.
Q4. It is understood that for a period up until 1993 there was no restriction on parallel imports. In that year Section 54 of the Copyright Act was amended so as to provide that the following would be punishable by fines or imprisonment for up to three months:
"Importing copies of recordings as specified in Section 45 with the intention of making them available to the public for commercial gain, if the manufacturer has not consented to the importation, and if copies of the same recording are available in the realm with the consent of the manufacturer. The Ministry may grant exemptions from this provision for the importation of copies from specified countries"
Q5. It is understood that the reason for reintroduction of this restriction was to protect Norwegian art and culture. It was regarded as important to arts and culture for Norwegian record companies, including the subsidiaries of international companies in Norway, to derive income from recordings by international artists which was sold in Norway. It was stated that if this income was reduced, the range of music available in Norway would become narrower, and less funds would be available for marketing Norwegian artists and for production involving a higher degree of risk.
Q6. It was found that parallel importers appeared to charge the same market price for their products as the Norwegian importers, but retained a higher profit since they did not take on the same cultural responsibility as the record companies. It was therefore stated that parallel importing has a very unfavourable effect on Norwegian art and culture, and weakened measures intended to counteract piracy. It was further stated that pirate production follows in the wake of parallel imports, and that consequently, prohibiting parallel imports would represent important means of stopping pirate sales.
Q7. As will be seen the eventual law was limited only to where copies of the same recording were already available with the consent of the manufacturer, and there was provision to grant exemptions.
Q8. It appears that the ability of laws preventing parallel importation to counteract piracy was merely a subsidiary advantage of the expressed greater desire for political reasons to protect Norwegian culture.
Q9. Unfortunately it has not been possible to date to obtain more specific information on the position in Norway.
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