VZCZCXRO4922
RR RUEHAG RUEHCHI RUEHDF RUEHFK RUEHHM RUEHIK RUEHKSO RUEHLZ RUEHNAG
RUEHPB RUEHRN RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHWL #0115/01 1342340
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 142340Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5862
INFO RUEHNZ/AMCONSUL AUCKLAND 1966
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 5513
RUEHDN/AMCONSUL SYDNEY 0844
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHZU/ASIAN PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION
RUEHSS/OECD POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC 0303
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 WELLINGTON 000115 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS TO USPTO, U.S COPYRIGHT OFFICE, USTR 
JARED RAGLAND, COMMERCE FOR ITA/MAC/OIPR, JGOLDBERG, 
STATE FOR EAP/ANP, EEB/TPP/IPE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD KIPR NZ
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON NZ COPYRIGHT LAW SECTION 92A - 
INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER RESPONSIBILITIES. 
 
Ref: WELLINGTON 88 
 
WELLINGTON 00000115  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU)  Summary:  On May 12, New Zealand's 
Minister of Commerce Simon Power met with 
representatives of the NZ copyright industry and GNZ 
officials to discuss a three-step plan to re-draft 
and enact section 92A of the Copyright (New 
Technologies) Act by end of 2009.  This particular 
section of the copyright law deals with provisions 
to terminate repeat copyright infringers who use the 
internet to illegally download copyrighted material. 
The GNZ plan looks to be well thought out and with 
the assistance of a panel comprised of five of NZ's 
leading intellectual property experts, the re- 
drafted provision looks positioned to avoid the 
earlier pitfalls and criticism of poor 
draftsmanship.  End Summary. 
 
Background 
---------- 
 
¶2. (SBU)  New Zealand's Minister of Commerce Simon 
Power suspended section 92A (S92A) of the new 
copyright law from going into force as originally 
planned on March 23.  He took this action because 
negotiators from both the intellectual property 
rights (IPR) industry and the Telecommunications 
Carrier Forum (TCF) reached an impasse and were 
unable to conclude a final code of conduct by the 
March 23 deadline.  This provision of the copyright 
law (section 92A) would have created new enforcement 
provisions in the law for terminating the internet 
service accounts of repeat copyright infringers 
(i.e., the illegal downloading of copyrighted 
material over the internet).  Since February 28, 
2009, all other provisions of the new Copyright (New 
Technologies) Amendment Act of 2008 are in full 
force.  See Reftel for full background details. 
 
¶3. (SBU)  Econoff learned from Tony Eaton of the NZ 
Motion Picture Association (MPA) that Minister Power 
met on May 12 with Eaton, Campbell Smith, CEO of the 
Recording Industry of NZ (RIANZ), Brett Cottle, CEO 
Australian Performing Rights Association NZ and 
lawyers from the Copyright Division of the Ministry 
of Economic Development (MED) to discuss Power's 
three-step plan to re-draft and enact section 92A by 
end of 2009. 
 
The Three-Step Plan 
------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU)  Step one will consist of assembling a 
panel of five leading intellectual property law 
experts charged with re-drafting S92A.  The panel 
has a July 2009 deadline to submit its version to 
the Copyright Division of MED for review and 
approval.  The panel will consist of: 
--Judge David Harvey, previous Chair of NZ Copyright 
Tribunal, 
--Susan Frankel, current Chair of NZ Copyright 
Tribunal, 
--Paul Sumpter, member of Copyright Tribunal and 
Professor of law at University of Auckland, 
--Clive Elliot, Auckland attorney, IPR expert and 
author of legal texts on patents and copyright 
issues, 
--Andrew Brown QC, Auckland attorney and expert on 
IPR, former partner in the Russell McVeagh law firm. 
 
¶5. (SBU)  Step two will be a consultative period 
among MED, the IPR rights holders and the NZ 
telecommunication firms (i.e., the NZ internet 
service providers - ISPs) to be concluded no later 
than September 2009.  Minister Power has made it 
clear to all parties involved in the process that 
the initial voluntary code of practice hammered out 
 
WELLINGTON 00000115  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
between the IPR community and the telecommunication 
industry will remain as a foundation in the current 
process and will not be rolled-back or renegotiated. 
As for the earlier March 23 deadline, both 
industries had reached agreement on most provision 
of their proposed code but remained deadlocked on 
two "minor" items: 
--how to deal with fees (costs imposed on IPR rights 
holder for submitting termination requests to ISP) 
and 
--length of time needed to process termination (time 
between notice of infraction and final cancellation 
of internet service of violator-one versus two month 
lead-time). 
 
¶6. (SBU)  Step three will be the legislative period 
where the newly revised section 92A moves to the 
Parliament's Select Committee for public notice and 
comment.  Minister Power wants the law to proceed 
through this period and be enacted and in force by 
end of December 2009.  In the meantime, the IPR 
community has engaged the services of Price 
Waterhouse consultants to do a cost-benefit analysis 
on the potential losses to the NZ economy if the new 
S92A fails to be enacted.  The IPR industry wants to 
be prepared to counter any false claims by opponents 
of the new provision who successfully managed to 
monopolize the local media's attention in the last 
round. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶7. (SBU)  Minister Power has made it clear to MED 
officials and to industry reps that the GNZ has no 
intention of going back on its commitment to 
strengthen NZ's copyright regime.  He expressed 
privately that he wants to avoid some of the 
hysterical public reaction that accompanied the last 
attempt to revise S92A.  His plan looks to be well 
thought out and with the input from a panel of top 
IPR experts the new provision will avoid the earlier 
criticism of poor draftsmanship.  The Embassy in the 
meantime has repeated its offer of assistance to GNZ 
officials to offer consultations with USG copyright 
experts through a DVC.  End Comment. 
 
KEEGAN