[LINK] parallel importing

[Adam Todd]

I've been learning to research today :)

I stumbled across a topic of curiosity, the subject of parallel importing.

This appears to be where a product can be imported into Australia without 
contravention of copyright and without seeking permission of the Australian 
Copyright owner.

It seems this applies to software and CD music.  But not film - yet.

But what is most interesting, in the research is that this approval, or 
sanctioning, of parallel importing by the Government took place about two 
years ago.

Strangely this was the same time music and software piracy issues really 
spun out of control and started to rise incredibly, at least in the eyes of 
media releases from copyright holders (cough.)

There is an interesting document for those interested at
http://www.mallesons.com/publications/Intellectual_Property/6543446W.htm

This paragraph really looks interesting to me:

Implications: Industry groups fear that an increased flow of imported 
products may increase copyright owners' difficulties in detecting both 
pirated software and the distribution channels for pirated software. There 
are some doubts regarding the efficacy of the new enforcement provisions: 
the new subsistence and ownership presumptions do not cover the issue of 
the originality of the work, and a copyright owner must still adduce 
evidence from the authors of a work to prove its originality.