The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) is calling for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to be directed to create guidelines for IP-reliant industries about the treatment of IP rights under certain sections of the Trade Practice Act.
The industry body has been among more than 80 submissions to an inquiry into the competition provisions of the Trade Practices Act made public by Treasury.
Referred to as Dawson inquiry--an inquiry into the competition and authorisation provisions of the Trade Practices Actââ,¬"-is looking into issues such as whether the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) deals fairly with the affairs of individual companies.
-It is imperative that the industry has sufficient certainty regarding the regulatory environment for intellectual property licensing," the AIIA claims in its submission to the Review Committee.
The AIIA is calling for the Review Committee to endorse the view that there is no inherent inconsistency between IP laws and restrictive trade practices laws, and that the existence of an intellectual property right does not of itself equate to market power.
It claims that IP licensing is the primary means by which many of AIIA's members product, develop, commercialise and exploit their business products. Among the industry body's concerns is that the potential cost to Australia's ICT industry if businesses are required to seek authorisation from the ACCC for arrangements which have traditionally been exempted under s51(3) of the Trade Practices Act.
