Australian publishers intend to battle any changes to the country’s parallel importation legislation, after the government said it intended to review the law. Australian fantasy writer Garth Nix has also leapt to its defence describing a likely “open” market as a “surrendered” market.
According to Bookseller + Publisher, the Australian Publishers Association (APA) and Australian Society of Authors (ASA) propose to run a media and grassroots crusade to combat any changes to the legislation. The legislation, which allows Australian publishers exclusive rights to publish books in their own territory providing they do so inside 30 days of overseas publication, is in danger after the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) said it planned to look at the law.
In a letter to the Australian book trade newspaper, Nix warned than an open market would downgrade Australian publishers to distributors. However, although feelings are strong, some Australian booksellers have welcomed the review.
Last year, the Australian Booksellers Association’s conference accepted a resolution to “investigate the impact of an open market and report back to members”, and the ABA’s stance is that it supports the exclusion of parallel importation restrictions, with ABA c.e.o. Malcolm Neil saying that the current legislation does not reflect today’s market.