Headline news in The Australian July 15, 2009 stated "Book prices to fall as trade ban tumbles". In a report by the Productivity Commission delivered on July 14, it was recommended that the federal government lift import restrictions on the parallel importation of books into Australia. This is to be implemented over 3 years.

Under current restrictions if a book is published in Australia within 30 days of being published overseas, retailers must buy their stocks from Australian publishers and are restricted from importing from an overseas market. Buyers often side step this process by buying online at cheaper prices. However, price is not the only issue for those arguing for the ban to be lifted. Many buyers want hard covers or limited editions that are just not available in Australia even though paperback versions have been published.

Advocates of "cheaper books" hail the Commission's decision as a win, while many authors, including prominent literary figures, such as Bryce Courtney, Peter Carey, Tim Winton and Nick Earls have spoken out against the decision. The commission received over 550 submissions outlining the various positions held by retailers, publishers and authors alike. According to The Australian, the Director of the Australian Society of Authors, Jeremy Fisher, submitted a 15 page report in which he commented that "removing the territorial copyright of books will simply destroy our literary culture."

Author Kate Grenville wrote in her submission, "Changes to the current regulations to erode our copyright territories will have a devastating impact. Because of our small population, few Australian writers - even well-known and celebrated ones - make anything more than an extremely modest income from sales. Anything that will further reduce our income will see many of us forced to stop writing. At best, we will be forced to tailor our writing only to what overseas publishers and readers will buy, since our Australian publishers would be in decline."

Ben Atkinson, author of The True History of Copyright - the Australian experience 1905-2005 points out that the prohibition on direct importation by retailers is "simply a carry-over from British law originally aimed at Irish pirates, and it is antithetical to Australian interests." And Bob Carr agrees with this argument that legislation is holding the publishing industry back. In his column in The Australian, he said "After all the pleading and hyperbole from publishers, it's refreshing to see the commission acknowledge what actually happened in New Zealand when protection was removed in 1998 ... Just as with the opening of the CD market in Australia in 1998, prices will go down and royalties will go up, because lower prices means more sales."

Whilst there has been a lengthy and heated debate about the removing of restrictions - booksellers saying it will bring book prices down, and authors arguing that it is the death of Australian literature - there have been few voices of clarity and much misinformation suggesting that basic copyright protection is under threat. A specialist IP solicitor can help authors and publishers make sense of Copyright Law and protect their rights and creative work.