-- JonathanMo - 14 Sep 2015

Indirect infringement of copyright - 'knowing or having reason to know'

Indirect infringement means dealing with unauthorised reproductions of works, rather than actually reproducing the material itself. Its main forms involve infringing copies being imported without the license of the copyright owner, or sold, hired out or otherwise made the subject of trade [CA ss.37-38, 102-103].

It is necessary to establish that the defendant 'knew or ought reasonably to have known' that the article with which they were dealing was an infringing copy. Note the policy questions which arise where copies have been made lawfully abroad and the copyright owner in Australia seeks to prevent their importation. This raises the issue of parallel importation.