I wish to point out that the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Mr. Richard Bruton, T.D. established the independent Copyright Review Committee on 9th May, 2011 to examine the current Copyright legislative framework to identify any areas of the legislation that might be deemed to create barriers to innovation and to make recommendations to resolve any problems identified. The terms of reference of the Copyright Review are as follows:
Examine the present national Copyright legislation and identify any areas that are perceived to create barriers to innovation.
Identify solutions for removing these barriers and make recommendations as to how these solutions might be implemented through changes to national legislation.
Examine the US style "fair use" doctrine to see if it would be appropriate in an Irish/EU context.
If it transpires that national copyright legislation requires to be amended but cannot be amended, (bearing in mind that Irish copyright legislation is bound by the European Communities Directives on Copyright and Related Rights and other international obligations) make recommendations for changes to the EU Directives that will eliminate the barriers to innovation and optimise the balance between protecting creativity and promoting and facilitating innovation.
The Copyright Review Committee published a wide-ranging Consultation Paper on 29th February, 2012 which examines the current Copyright legislative framework to identify any areas of the legislation that might be deemed to create barriers to innovation. The Consultation Paper is a discussion document which sets out issues and concerns which were expressed to the Committee in submissions from a broad spectrum of interested parties on foot of an initial consultation process held during the summer of 2011 (in the region of 100 submissions were received during the initial consultation process).
The fundamental aim of this Paper is to begin the process of sketching reforms to Irish copyright law to further innovation without denying protection to those who need copyright law to innovate. I would specifically refer to Chapter 6 of the Review Committee's Consultation Paper which is concerned with intermediaries and it is stated that "One of the main questions for the present Review is whether the copyright balance between rights-holders and intermediaries now requires further amendment, in particular to incentivise innovation." If any interested party has any concerns in this regard, I would suggest that they engage with this review process.
It should be noted that the Review Committee is carrying out the review of the existing Copyright legislation independently of the Department and/or Government. The Review Committee will ultimately present a Report with a set of recommendations for legislative change. It is anticipated that this Report will be completed by the end of 2012. I wish to state that the recommendations for legislative change which are put forward in the Review Committee's final Report will be afforded careful consideration.
