The speech on Tuesday featured 12 objectives in leaving for a positive and constructive partnership with the EU:

1. Provide certainly wherever we can – but not give a running commentary
2. Laws to be made in Westminster, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast – end of jurisdiction of European Courts in the UK
3. Strengthen the precious union between the four nations of the UK – now is the time to pull together and face the uncertain future together
4. Ensure a practical solution that allows maintenance of the Common Travel Area with the Republic of Ireland
5. Control of the number of people who come to Britain from Europe – however, we will continue to attract the brightest and best; openness to international talent is important
6. Guarantee the rights of EU citizens living in Britain & rights of British nationals in other member states – the Prime Minister is very keen to crack on with this ASAP
7. Protect rights of workers set out in European legislation and build on them – we will work to maintain and improve EU legislation for labour markets to be forward thinking
8. Pursue a bold and ambitious Free Trade Agreement with the EU – the Prime Minister ruled out membership of the Single Market, seek a greatest possible access to single market
9. Time for Britain to get out into the world and rediscover its role as a great trading nation – we want to trade across the world whilst still have a Customs Agreement with the EU – want to remove as many barriers to trade as possible
10. Continue to collaborate with European partners on science, research and technology initiatives
11. Work closely with our European allies in foreign and defence policy even as we leave the EU itself – want relationship to include practical arrangements of law enforcement, intelligence sharing
12. Phased process of implementation will be in the interests of Britain and the EU – we will reach an agreement within the 2year period, from there we will have a phased period to prepare for new arrangements

The Prime Minister also reminded us all of her job; to get the best deal for Britain in Brexit negotiations and not provide newspaper columns of a running commentary. She also used the speech to remind everyone that in our democracy, we must all respect the result of the referendum, however divisive it was. The Prime Minister also confirmed that the final deal will go to a vote in both Houses of Parliament. Within an hour of the speech, the pound had gone up by 3c on the dollar – the largest one day growth since 2008.

Later in the week, Theresa May addressed leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, stating that the UK will be a ‘world leader’ on trade. The Prime Minister did more to reassure businesses and the international community that we are open for business and keen to establish trade deals with new allies and old friends. Within the speech, the Prime Minister stated: “Businesses large and small are the backbone of our economies, and enterprise is the engine of our prosperity. That is why Britain is – and will always be – open for business: open to investment in our companies, infrastructure, universities and entrepreneurs. Open to those who want to buy our goods and services. And open to talent and opportunities, from the arts to technology, finance to manufacturing.”

We also learnt that Donald Trump has now met with Michael Gove, providing an interview to The Times newspaper in which he applauded the UK for being “so smart in getting out” of the European Union, and is convinced that Brexit will be a great success. He also used the opportunity to express to Gove that the US will have a quick trade deal with the UK after he takes office saying “we’re gonna work very hard to get it done quickly and done properly. Good for both sides” – despite Obama’s suggestion that we’ll be at the back of the line when he addressed the media last year with David Cameron. Other issues of the agenda that the two discussed were Merkel’s immigration policy, NATO and how ‘proud’ Donald Trump’s mother was of the Queen. It is also now official – Donald Trump is the 45^th President of the United States.

By-Elections

Quick summary of upcoming by-elections following the resignations of Tristram Hunt (Stoke Central) and Jamie Reed (Copeland). Stoke Central is a three-way marginal seat, with both UKIP and the Conservatives hoping to snatch the seat from Labour, capitalising on the fact that Stoke-on-Trent had the highest Leave vote of any city in the UK (a whopping 69.4%). Copeland on the other hand, is in easy grasp of the Tories as Labour’s majority over the Conservatives in 2015 was just 2,564 (UKIP was third with 6,148 votes; 8,000 less than the Conservatives), and given that the constituency voted for Brexit by 23,528 to 14,419. We could potentially see two new Conservative MPs providing a much needed boost to the Conservative parliamentary majority. Both by-election dates are yet to be announced.

IP (Unjustified Threats) Bill Committee meeting

This week saw the IP Unjustified Threats Bill receive its Second Reading in the House of Commons introduced by new IP Minister, Jo Johnson, who celebrated the contribution IP rich industries make to the UK economy. The Bill isn’t particularly contentious, and gives effect to recommendations by the Law Commission to revise existing threats provisions that are currently too complex and difficult to navigate.

There are five main parts of the Clauses:

1. Clear test for whether a particular occasion contains a threat
2. Which types of threats trigger the threats provisions
3. Guidance of what can safely be said
4. Remedies and defences
5. Introduction of an exemption that threats claimed cannot be brought against regulated professional advisors acting on instructions

Responding, Chi Onwurah said that Labour is not convinced that the Bill goes far enough for manufacturers against unjustified threats, and also stated her disappointment that the Bill offers little alternative remedies for claimants as alternative dispute resolutions rather than lengthy legal cases are positive and advantageous. However, overall Labour welcomes the Bill.

The SNP also welcome the Bill but stated that the Government must be mindful of the impact Brexit may have on IP law.

In closing, the Minister said that getting threats provisions right is important to support our innovators, by enabling them to go to the trade source. The Bill encourages rights holders to approach those at fault whilst protecting them from unreasonable threats.

The House of Commons Public Bill Committee has done a call for views on the Bill, with a deadline of Tuesday 24^th January, and more information can be found here.

Digital Economy Bill

We have now learnt of the dates for when the Bill will be heard at Committee Stage in the House of Lords:

• Tuesday 31^st January
• Thursday 2^nd February
• Monday 6^th February
• Wednesday 8^th February

There have also been two Amendments submitted of interest to the Alliance:

Insert the following new Clause—

“Devices or services that infringe copyright

(1) Section 107 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (criminal liability for making or dealing with infringing articles, etc) is amended as follows.

(2) In subsection (1)(d)(ii), after “offers” insert “, advertises”.

(3) After subsection (1)(d)(iv), insert—

“(v) installs, maintains or replaces, or

(vi) otherwise promotes by means of commercial communications, or”.

(4) After subsection (1)(e), after “article” insert “, device, product or component,”.

(5) At the end of subsection (1), insert “or which is, and which he knows or has

reason to believe is, primarily designed, produced, adapted or otherwise used

in a manner described in this section whether alone or in conjunction with

another article, device, product, component, or service supplied by or with the

knowledge of the same person for the purpose of enabling or facilitating the

infringement of copyright”.”

Insert the following new Clause—

“Remote e-lending

(1) Section 5 of the Public Lending Right Act 1979 is amended as follows.

(2) In subsection (2)—

(a) in the definition of “book”—

(i) after “(an “audio book”)” insert “which has been licensed by the publisher on agreed terms for library lending”,

(ii) after “(an “e-book”)” insert “which has been licensed by the publisher on agreed terms for library lending”;

(b) in the definition of “lent out”, for subsection (b) substitute—

“(b) includes communicating by means of electronic transmission to a place other than library premises”.”

You can read the full list of Amendments here.

House of Lords “Brexit: Creative Industries” Debate

Alliance Friend, Lord Clement-Jones introduced the debate on Thursday to ensure that Government is taking into account concerns of the creative industries in light of Brexit; particularly as Theresa May did not discuss the importance of the creative industries in her speeches earlier in the week. The majority of Peers that spoke highlighted the importance of the creative industries to the UK economy, and many covered access to talent, loss of European funding and trading relationships and co-investments.

Of particular interest to us however, was Lord Clement-Jones quizzing the Minister on IP enforcement and cooperation stating that the shape of copyright exceptions are decided at European level, and explained that European cooperation remains hugely important through ‘Follow the Money’. He also enquired whether ECJ decisions will remain binding, in addition to European trademarks still being relevant. As mentioned in the Alliance members’ newsletter that I sent out earlier, Lord Clement-Jones asked the Minister when the Government will be publishing its response to EU copyright reforms. Specifically for the AV sector, the Peer reflected on the vital Country of Origin principle enabling TV channels to reach EU countries and suggested that without this, we could see significant harm to industry; we may see AV companies move elsewhere in the EU to ensure they can still benefit.

Lord Puttnam also discussed the COO principle making it possible to transmit across the EU, pointing out that sensible EU regulations can take red tape away, not add to it. International/European channels HQs in Britain. As COO must continue to operate in the UK after Brexit, we must ensure that the headquarters for international and European channels remain in the UK.

However, Baroness Chisholm was a little more optimistic reflecting on Anthony Browne (British Art Market Federation)’s comments that the freer the trade, the more successful our art market can be, with the Brexit vote possibly giving London a competitive advantage over rivals in New York, Switzerland and Hong Kong.

Baroness Rebuck pointed out that one of her four key concerns about Brexit is the regulatory framework; copyright protection, trademarks, intellectual property rights and the Digital Single Market. She stated that copyright is vital for the creative industries, and in publishing it is the mechanism by which publishers and authors can turn their creative endeavour into financial reward. Baroness Rebuck comments that we need to retain a stable framework to ensure continued investment with digitisation opening up global markets, and we need a seat at the table to influence policy, such as protecting IP from online piracy.

Lord Taylor of Warwick also explained that there must also be ongoing protection of intellectual property rights, including copyright in the new trade deals

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch confirmed that politicians need to liaise with techUK, UK Music and others to ensure that we continue to have involvement in the EU’s harmonisation of regulations around intellectual property and digital content

Responding, Lord Ashton of Hyde confirmed that Government is working closely with the creative industries to understand the impact and opportunities that Brexit brings (such as through Karen Bradley’s roundtables). He said that leaving the EU will result in the UK having greater control over funding and being able to make regulatory decisions subject to Parliament. There is also a great amount of financial assistance offered to our creative industries by HM Treasury. Further to this, the industrial strategy Green Paper will be published later this month, for which Karen Bradley sits on the Cabinet sub-committee for the industrial strategy.

Responding on the points of the Arts Council review of intellectual property, Lord Ashton confirmed that Government is working with the IPO and industry to understand those impacts, the opportunities for IP and copyright policy as a result of our exit from the EU. He confirmed that the recent consultation on copyright will inform the Government’s EU negotiating position and praised the industry’s input as being very helpful; but he failed to suggest when the Government’s response would be published. The Minister also stated that the IPO is currently analysing feedback from its call for evidence on the digital single market copyright reform, but stated caution is needed to ensure that the impact of changes is fully understood and that they do not damage incentives to invest in the creation of copyright content. Lord Ashton also told the House:

“As for the digital single market measures on fair remuneration and transparency for artists, mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, we want to see creators remunerated fairly while making sure that we continue to encourage investment in new content and innovative services—that would be good for everyone. We are aware that the Commission has proposed action in this area. We have engaged with the industry on these matters and look forward to discussing them at an EU level.”

You can read the full Hansard proceedings here.

Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee: Government Response to its report on the Digital Economy

The House of Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee has published the Government response to its report on the digital economy. In the response, the Government outlines the Brexit negotiations currently underway relating to the digital economy which includes reforms to the European Copyright Law package. The response also addresses the Committee’s recommendations regarding intellectual property, including its ongoing support for the Copyright Hub and stated the importance of the creative industries continuing to pledge their support for this innovative licensing solution. Much to the relief of Alliance members, the Government also confirmed that there are no domestic plans for further reform of the copyright framework. The Government also recognises that metadata stripping remains a significant problem, particularly for the images industry and states:

“It is also clear that for the digital economy to function effectively and for rights holders to be adequately remunerated creative content must retain its identifiers. The Government agrees to consider what further action is needed to address metadata stripping, as part of our work to deliver the Enforcement Strategy”.

Within the response it was also confirmed:

“While we remain a member of the EU we will continue to play a role and represent the interests of the British people. This includes taking an active part in and influencing negotiations regarding the Digital Single Market and ensuring that British views are heard in the debates”.

You can read the full response here.