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U. Recommendations


This Document is Archived


Consultant's Report on "Theft of Intellectual Property - Piracy and Counterfeiting

A.J. Park & Son for the Ministry of Commerce
[ Last Updated 28 October 2005 ]


U1. From the foregoing it will be seen that it is necessary for the New Zealand government to amend New Zealand laws so as to provide better protection against piracy and counterfeiting, and to better resource government agencies to combat piracy and counterfeiting.

U2. The following are the principal recommendations:

  1. Criminal provisions in the Trade Marks Act corresponding to those in the Copyright Act 1994, and the Australian and United Kingdom Trade Marks Acts.
  2. Increase penalties, particularly for imprisonment, along the lines provided in most overseas countries discussed in this study.
  3. Extend the powers of the Customs Service in the Customs and Excise Act to cover pirate and counterfeit goods.
  4. Extend Customs powers to pirate and counterfeit goods in transit.
  5. Provide for forfeiture of pirate copies by consent under the Copyright Act as in Section 54H of the Trade Marks Act.
  6. Provide for presumptions of the existence and ownership of copyright in criminal offences for copyright infringement, and for affidavit evidence of this.
  7. Provide for placing the onus on the defendant to show that the copying was, or the copies were, licensed, and placing the onus on the defendant to show that the defendant did not know or had no reason to believe that the copying or copies were unauthorised, with consideration also to be given to the new Australian laws on this.
  8. Include provisions in the Copyright Act and the Trade Marks Act along the lines of Section 100 of the United Kingdom Copyright Designs and Patents Act, being a right to seize infringing copies and other articles in a public place.
  9. Provide for Customs to be able to prosecute for importing or attempting to import pirate or counterfeit copies.
  10. Provide resource and skills to the Police and to Customs to enable them to give greater priority and ability to prosecute for making and distributing pirate and counterfeit goods.
  11. Provide for liaison between Police and intellectual property rights owners so that rights owners can provide information on ownership and counterfeit activity to promptly effect prosecutions.
  12. Increase public awareness of the illegality and harm of pirating and counterfeiting.

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