James Delahunty
16 May 2007 21:29
A pledge from the Australian federal government to provide $12.4 million over two years to to tackle the problem of
intellectual property (IP) crime has been welcomed by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) Australia Committee and the ARIA's Music Industry Piracy Investigations (MIPI). Dr Jim Macnamara, spokesperson for the BSA Australia Committee commented that IP crime is not a victimless crime as often thought.
"Piracy hurts local software developers and resellers, confuses and misleads consumers, and also impacts on international software companies selling their products in Australia," Macnamara said. "We have to recognize that Australia is part of a global economy and thus address IP issues in an internationally consistent way, in concert with our trading partners. We believe the IP initiatives announced by the Attorney General last week are particularly relevant, certainly needed and overall a very good step forward for Australia."
Sabiene Heindl, the General Manager of MIPI supported the promise made by the federal government. "Music piracy adversely affects a range of people in the music industry – from up-and-coming artists, songwriters, sound technicians, graphic designers to music retailers. Ultimately consumers pay the price with less Australian music because less money in the industry necessarily translates to less investment in discovering and nurturing new Australian talent," Heindl said.
She added: "MIPI welcomes the Attorney General’s continued commitment to addressing IP crime. The pledge of increased funds to fight IP crime complements the recent changes to the Copyright Act which among other things allow for police to issue onthe- spot fines for IP criminals."
Specifically, the Attorney General announced additional funding of $8.3 million over 2 years to strengthen the capability of the Australian Federal Police to pursue serious and complex IP crime, particularly where organized or transnational criminal elements are involved, noting that the AFP will work closely with industry and other agencies, including overseas agencies.
He also announced that the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions will receive an additional $4.1 million over two years for new prosecutors and training to enable the prosecution of IP crime and finance the pursuit of proceeds of crime.
Source:
Press Release