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From the Newsdesk

Last week in Parliament

 

We are barely two weeks into the new year, but in terms of political excitement 2017 seems to be the year which keeps on giving. We started off the week with Jeremy Corbyn’s much vaunted brand reboot. In a day that was supposed to be an opportunity for Labour to announce its new policy on immigration and Europe, Jeremy ended up suggesting a new policy on capping the pay of high earners – with the limit being “slightly above” his own £140,000. Within a few hours this policy had evolved into controlling company pay ratios while his own former economic advisor described the idea as a “totally idiotic….lunatic idea”. 

As for free movement, Jeremy would later set out in no uncertain terms that “Labour is not wedded to freedom of movement for EU citizens as a point of principle, but I don’t want that to be misinterpreted, nor do we rule it out.” This pleased no one, and thus ended the reboot. Understandingly, Tristram Hunt has been left so demoralised that today he has announced his resignation as the MP for Stoke Central, abandoning his political career to retreat back into the world of academia as Director of the V&A museum. Hunt’s resignation means we now have a third by-election on our hands and will be an interesting opportunity for UKIP to prove they are not completely anarchic by trying to win the pro-Brexit constituency.

New IP Minister

We learnt this week that Jo Johnson has been appointed the new IP minister. The younger Johnson brother is Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation, at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Although it is still early days Johnson has already expressed good knowledge of his brief and an eagerness to meet with the Alliance.

Digital Economy Bill Update

In other Parliamentary news, Lord Ashton of Hyde has written to Peers following the Second Reading of the Digital Economy Bill in the House of Lords.

You can read the letter here:

https://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPapers/files/DEP2016-0982/Digital_Economy_Bill_2nd_Reading_Letter.pdf and the main points relevant to IP are as follows:

Repeal of Section 73 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 – Lord Ashton explained that in relation to any transitional arrangements, the IPO is currently consulting on this and the Government’s intentions on how the reform will be implemented will be announced shortly.  He explained that the repeal may call for a renegotiation of contractual arrangements between service broadcasters and Virgin Media.  Any decisions reached will be compliant with the PSBs ‘must offer’ obligations in the Communications Act 2003 which also ensures Ofcom has the role to oversee the agreement.  This regulation is intended to limit the amount of value public service broadcasters can extract from the negotiations.  The government does not intend to set any retransmission fee arrangements beyond this.

Harmonising the penalties for online/offline copyright infringement – During the debate, Lord Whitty asked for clarification on the difference between commercial benefit and the normal consumer activity in relation to the increase in maximum sentence for online copyright infringement.  In his letter, Lord Ashton states:

“The revised criminal offences penalise communicating a copyright work to the public and infringing a performer’s making available right, both of which entail distributing content without the permission of the rights holder.  Both of these acts are considered criminal where a person knows or has reason to believe that they are infringing the right and either intends to make a monetary gain or knows or has reason to believe that they will cause loss or expose the rights holder to a risk of loss in money.  As such, these offences focus on those causing harm either for monetary gain or a monetary risk of loss to the rights holder.”

Search – Lord Ashton also acknowledged the issue of copyright infringing material showing up on search engines that was raised during Second Reading.  He made reference to the ongoing Search Roundtables and the draft code of practice that will be discussed at the next Roundtable on 10thJanuary.  Lord Ashton stressed that the government has not ruled out legislating, but is keen to wait for the outcome of the roundtable process.

IPTV boxes – As Matt Hancock responded during the Committee Stage in the Commons, Lord Ashton has also written that the government believes existing offences on the stature book are sufficient to tackle the selling of IPTV boxes.  However, he did give his assurances that the Government will be keeping an eye on this issue and the IPO is prepared to take action if more legislation is necessary.

We are yet to learn when the Bill will move to Committee in the House of Lords to be considered.  We are keeping a close eye on Amendment papers to see when any issues relevant to us will be coming up; but nothing so far.

Upcoming Dates

  • APPG for Intellectual Property –  1st and 22nd February 2017
  • Second Reading Committee: Intellectual Property (Unjustified Threats) Bill (HL) -16thJanuary
  • Creative Industries and the Business of IP – 2nd February 2017

 

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