IP/N/1/AUS/17  
IP/N/1/AUS/C/23  
IP/N/1/AUS/E/1  
 
16 May 2019  
(19-3403)  Page: 1/2 
Council for Trade -Related Aspects of  
Intellectual Property Rights  Original: English  
 
NOTIFICATION OF LAWS  AND REGULATIONS  
UNDER ARTICLE 63.2 O F THE TRIPS AGREEMENT  
AUSTRALIA : COPYRIGHT AMENDMENT (ONLINE INFRINGEMENT ) ACT 2018  
Notifying Member  AUSTRALIA  
 
Details of the notified legal text  
 
Title Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Act 2018  
Subject matter  Copyright and related rights; Enforcement  
Nature of 
notification  [X] Main dedicated intellectual property law or regulation  
[  ] Other law or regulation  
Link to legal text  https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2019/IP/AUS/19_2097_00_e.pdf  
Notification status  [  ] First notification  
[X] Amendment or revision to notified legal text  
[  ] Replacement or consolidation of notified legal text(s)  
Previous 
notification(s) 
referred to  IP/N/1/AUS/C/16, IP/N/1/AUS/7  
Brief description of the notified legal text  
 
The Act amends the online copyright infringement scheme in section 115A of the Copyright Act 1968, 
which is aimed at allowing the Federal Court of Australia to issue injunctions requiring the blocking 
of access by users in Australia to overseas online locations that facilitate large -scale infringement of 
copyright.  
 
The Act amends the scope of the previous scheme by:  
 
• providing that an injunction may be grante d in respect of an online location that has ‘the 
primary purpose or the primary effect’ of infringing, or facilitating an infringement, of 
copyright (whether or not in Australia);  
 
• including a rebuttable presumption that the online location is outside A ustralia, to reduce the 
evidentiary burden on copyright owners;  
 
• enabling copyright owners to seek injunctions requiring online search engine providers to take 
such steps as the Court considers reasonable so as not to provide search results that refer 
users to online locations blocked under the scheme (the scheme previous only applied to 
internet service providers);  
 IP/N/1/AUS/17 • IP/N/1/AUS/C/23 • IP/N/1/AUS/E/1  
 
- 2 - 
 
  • clarifying that the Federal Court may grant injunctions in terms that allow:  
 
o the copyright owner and carriage service provider, by agreement, to apply the 
injunction to block other domain names, URLs and IP addresses that start to provide 
access to the online location after the injunction is made;  
 
o the copyright owner and online  search engine provider, by agreement, to apply the 
injunction to not provide search results that include domain names, URLs and IP 
addresses that start to provide access to the online location after the injunction is made; 
and  
 
• enabling the Minister, b y legislative instrument, to declare that particular online search engine 
providers, or classes of online search engine providers, be exempt from the scheme.  
 
Language(s) of 
notified legal text English  
Entry into force  11 December 2018  
Other date   Adoption : 10 December 2018  
 
Notification details  
 
Submission date 
of notification  8 April 2019  
Other information  The Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Act 2018 is also available 
at: 
 
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2018A00157  
 
Agency or 
authority 
responsible  Department of Communications and the Arts  
GPO Box 2154  
Canberra, ACT 2601 Australia  
Telephone: +61 2 6271  1000