At least since the Bailey's Original Irish Cream case (discussed in our Information Letter N.S. 167) it has been possible to assert copyright protection in the labels placed on products to prevent import of those products even if they had been lawfully put on the market somewhere else in the world, even though no equivalent right exists under the trademark law. The Australian Parliament has, however, now passed legislation that will end this possibility. The new law will come into effect early in the year 2000 and will end the ability of copyright owners to assert their copyright in labels or accessories to goods to prevent the import of genuine goods if their import is otherwise lawful.

At about the same time, Parliament also passed a controversial new law which will permit the import of sound recordings lawfully marketed somewhere else in the world notwithstanding the provisions of the Copyright Law giving the copyright owner exclusive right over the distribution of copies of works that are the subject of copyright protection. The main argument put forward for this erosion of copyright protection was that the prices that were being charged for CD's and the like were too high. However, many Australian producers argued that the high price of imported CD's was the only way in which an indigenous recording industry could be maintained.