RESEARCH
STRATEGY
1) Identify the legal term for the action being taken against
your client.
In order to research a legal
subject properly, it is essential to identify not only the terminology
associated with a broad legal subject, but first to identify the legal
concept itself.
In this example, the client
has been served with search orders administered by solicitors for the
claimant and a supervising solicitor. There is no police involvement.
In order to research the law in this area we must first find the correct
term for this procedure.
Using a standard search
engine would be difficult because we do not yet have the specific vocabulary
needed to formulate a good search query. Instead, a graphical search engine
may be useful as they allow you to identify relationships between concepts
you have identified, for example supervising solicitor and search
order.
Using the UJIKO search engine
(www.ujiko.com), enter the following search query:
"supervising
solicitor" "search order"
Note the set of themes that
have appeared in the centre of the screen. Do any of these look useful?
The term anton piller order looks promising, as it could be the
name of a legal action. Clicking on it refines the search and adds anton
piller order to your original search query.
Now run the mouse pointer
over the six links on the left-hand menu and compare the different thumbshots.
Which websites seem the most useful? Use these links to find out if the
Anton Piller Order is in fact the action being carried out against
your client.
Thumbshots
Thumbshots (also known as thumbnails)
are screenshots of online documents which help you to preview a
link before clicking on it. Because the thumbshot helps you visualise
the website, it is often very helpful in identifying content and
layout. Thumbshots and similar visual aids are becoming ever more
popular features of search tools. |
Answer
The correct term is
an Anton Piller Order.
The courts have power
to issue a form of civil search warrant called a Search Order.
This type of order was previously developed by the courts and is
known as an Anton Piller Order – based on the title
of a case of the same name. Authority to grant a Search Order
is now contained in statute – Section 7 of the Civil Procedure
Act 1997.
A Search Order
is a form of injunction which requires a party to permit entry for
certain persons to property in order to conduct a search for, and
if necessary to seize, evidence. Such orders are often made in cases
involving pirate goods, such as unauthorised video copies of popular
films. These are usually applied for and obtained from the court
without notice to the person who is intended to be the subject of
the order, in order to ensure that there is no prospect of evidence
being removed or destroyed before the search can take place. However,
a Search Order can be issued in any case where the court
is persuaded that the defendant is the sort of person who might
destroy relevant evidence in his or her possession if the order
is not made.
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2) Does such a procedure exist in the EU other than in the UK?
Once the term Anton
Piller Order has been identified, you can continue to use www.ujiko.com
to further refine your search to answer questions 2 and 3.
Alternatively, you could
try an answer engine such as Answers.com (www.answers.com).
Answer engines are designed to find answers to questions, and provide
links to many authoritative sources.
Answers.com has a number
of useful functions for basic research, particularly for finding information
about terms.
In order to explore where
an Anton Piller Order will apply, go to Answers.com and enter
the following search query:
Anton Piller "outside
the UK"
At the end of the search
bar you will see a button marked Go. If you click on the downwards pointing
black triangle to the right of the Go button, you can limit your search
to: Answers, Web, Shopping, Images,
News and Blogs.
Click on Go, and
scroll down to see if there are any references to Anton Piller Orders
being available outside the UK.
Several of the hits return
phrases such as “unknown outside the UK”. This might suggest
that Anton Piller Orders (or similar) are not available outside
the UK, but in order to be certain we need to research further.
Click on the link to the
IP Enforcement Directive - Update 25/02/04.
The text on this page reads:
“As expected, the
proposed text for the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive
(IPRED) was nodded through by the European Parliament's Legal Affairs
committee without a vote on Monday afternoon.
The Directive is now scheduled to be debated by the full Parliament
on Monday 8 March, and voted on (with amendments possible) on Tuesday
9 March, ready to be approved by ministers on Thursday 11 March.”
From this we
learn that an EU-wide Anton Piller style directive, the Intellectual
Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED) was due to be approved
by ministers on 11 March 2004. However, we do not know for certain that
the directive was passed. To do so, we need to consult a reliable news
source.
Go to the BBC news website
(http://news.bbc.co.uk). Type the following search query
into the search bar at the top right hand corner of the screen and click
search:
Intellectual Property
Rights Enforcement Directive
The resulting news items
will provide an answer for question 2.
Answer
Yes.
According to the BBC news website,
the European Parliament has passed an anti-piracy law, covering
everything from handbags to music downloads. Under the law, counterfeiters
could face civil penalties, but proposals for criminal sanctions
were dropped.
The directive allows companies to
raid homes, seize property and ask courts to freeze bank accounts
to protect trademarks or intellectual property they believe are
being abused or stolen.
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3) Does such a procedure exist in Australia?
Using the Answers.com search engine, enter
the following search query:
Anton Piller Order
Australia
Scan through the resulting links to find
an answer to question 3.
Research tip: Answers.com
Answers.com offers an extremely valuable
tool which is particularly useful for researching both language
and concepts: 1-Click Answers. On the start page
of Answers.com there is a button to download 1-Click Answers.
This free software allows you to click
on any word appearing on your computer screen and will then immediately
link you to an Answers.com page containing dictionary definitions,
encyclopaedic entries, etc. of the word or concept.
For example, clicking on Anton
Piller on this page would provide a discussion of Anton
Piller Orders from Wikipedia, references, links to other topics
in which Anton Piller Orders are mentioned, etc.
1 Click Answers could
save you valuable time when researching legal English terms and
concepts.
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Answer
Yes.
An Anton Piller
Order was used in 2004 to raid the Australian offices of Sharman
Networks.
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