Brendan Griffin
Ceist:153 Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his views on a matter regarding copyright (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22398/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraThursday, 3 May 2012
Ceisteanna (152)
Freagraí scríofa
I wish to acknowledge the concerns that have been expressed by your constituent regarding the introduction of the European Union (Copyright and Related Rights) Regulations 2012 which were signed into law on 29 February, 2012. However, I would like to explain that this legislative measure concerning injunctions against intermediaries has been introduced to clarify the situation that arose following a High Court Judgment in the case of EMI and others -v- UPC. This judgment held that by reason of provisions of the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000, an injunction is not available in cases of transient communications, and that Ireland did not comply with EU law. As you will appreciate, non-compliance with EU law is a very serious matter.
I am satisfied that the High Court now has significant guidance in the implementation of the legislative measure which has been introduced arising from the underpinning EU Directives, as interpreted by the recent Court of Justice of the European Union case law, to ensure that any remedy provided will uphold the following principles:
Freedom to conduct a business enjoyed by operators such as ISPs;
The absolute requirement that an ISP cannot be required to carry out general monitoring on the information it carries on its network;
Any measures must be fair and proportionate and not be unnecessarily complicated or costly;
The fundamental rights of an ISPs' customers must be respected, namely their right to protection of their personal data and their freedom to receive or impart information.
I would like to point out that I am determined to ensure that Ireland will be a premier location where innovation can flourish and where innovation is facilitated by our copyright laws. In this regard, I am committed to reviewing and updating the Copyright legislation currently in place in order to strike the right balance between encouraging innovation and protecting creativity.
In this context, please note that the Copyright Review Committee published a wide-ranging Consultation Paper on 29 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.