9 December 2015 Penguin Random House response to the Productivity Commission Inquiry into Intellectual Property Arrangements We are pleased to submit our response to the Productivity Commission Issues Paper, October 2015 (the Issues Paper). We understand that the Australian Government has made some preliminary recommendations in its response to the Harper review regarding the retention or otherwise of parallel importation restrictions in Australia. Prior to the Australian Government committing any such decisions to legislation we ask that the Commission highlight the issues raised in this submission with the Australian Government. We provide this submission in response to the specific question: Do existing We restrictions on parallel imports still fulfil their intended goals in the digital era? frame our response adopting the framework outlined in the Issues Paper, namely through a consideration of effectiveness, efficiency, adaptability and accountability. We acknowledge and support the draft submissions of Oxford University Press, the Australian Copyright Council and the Australian Publishers Association in response to other matters raised in the Issues Paper. The publishing industry- innovation, investment and creativity We support the Australian outlined in the Issues Government’s stated policy aims as Paper of wanting to ensure that the intellectual property system provides appropriate incentives for innovation, investment and the production of creative works while ensuring it does not unreasonably impede further innovation, competition, investment and access to goods and services. The Australian publishing industry has a long history of fostering diversity and the long term interests of consumers, the encouragement of efficient investment, innovation and entrepreneurship. We want to ensure that Australian consumers receive access to the best possible content at the best possible prices. In any review of governmental policy, a holistic approach must be adopted to enable any perceived benefits of change to be properly analysed to ensure their likelihood of success. In the area of intellectual property, a review must take into account the entire value chain, market structure, opportunities for innovation, and production and logistics realities in order for perceived consumer benefits to be realised. In 2009, the Productivity Commission conducted a complete and thorough review of parallel importation through the to which Parallel Importation of Books Study, Penguin Random House (then Random House and Penguin) provided full and lengthy
9 December 2015 Penguin Random House response to the Productivity Commission Inquiry into Intellectual Property Arrangements We are pleased to submit our response to the Productivity Commission Issues Paper, October 2015 (the Issues Paper). We understand that the Australian Government has made some preliminary recommendations in its response to the Harper review regarding the retention or otherwise of parallel importation restrictions in Australia. Prior to the Australian Government committing any such decisions to legislation we ask that the Commission highlight the issues raised in this submission with the Australian Government. We provide this submission in response to the specific question: Do existing restrictions on parallel imports still fulfil their intended goals in the digital era? We frame our response adopting the framework outlined in the Issues Paper, namely through a consideration of effectiveness, efficiency, adaptability and accountability. We acknowledge and support the draft submissions of Oxford University Press, the Australian Copyright Council and the Australian Publishers Association in response to other matters raised in the Issues Paper. The publishing industry- innovation, investment and creativity We support the Australian Government’s stated policy aims as outlined in the Issues Paper of wanting to ensure that the intellectual property system provides appropriate incentives for innovation, investment and the production of creative works while ensuring it does not unreasonably impede further innovation, competition, investment and access to goods and services. The Australian publishing industry has a long history of fostering diversity and the long term interests of consumers, the encouragement of efficient investment, innovation and entrepreneurship. We want to ensure that Australian consumers receive access to the best possible content at the best possible prices. In any review of governmental policy, a holistic approach must be adopted to enable any perceived benefits of change to be properly analysed to ensure their likelihood of success. In the area of intellectual property, a review must take into account the entire value chain, market structure, opportunities for innovation, and production and logistics realities in order for perceived consumer benefits to be realised. In 2009, the Productivity Commission conducted a complete and thorough review of parallel importation through the Parallel Importation of Books Study, to which Penguin Random House (then Random House and Penguin) provided full and lengthy
sub075-intellectual-property.docx