Key commitment in Action Plan for Jobs aimed at reducing barriers to
innovation in the digital environment
The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD,
together with the Minister of State for Research and Innovation, Sean
Sherlock TD, today (Tuesday) welcomed the publication of the report of the
independent Copyright Review Committee, entitled Modernising Copyright.
The report is aimed at identifying any barriers for innovation in the
digital environment, and developing proposals for reducing them in order to
provide greater support for growth and jobs in the digital industry.
Publication of the report marks delivery of a key commitment in the
Government’s Action Plan for Jobs.
Following publication, Minister Bruton and Minister Sherlock propose that
the recommendations of the report will be carefully examined with other
Departments and Agencies involved, with the intention of bringing forward
legislative proposals for reform in this area to stimulate innovation and
to ensure that Ireland is well positioned to meet the needs of the digital
environment.
Minister Sherlock announced also the convening of a public forum on the 9th
December at the Royal Irish Academy to allow the Committee to present its
findings and the copyright community to probe these findings with members
of the Committee.
The Report entitled “Modernising Copyright” was compiled by the Copyright
Review Committee comprising Dr Eoin O’Dell of Trinity College (Chair),
Professor Steve Hedley of University College Cork and Ms Patricia McGovern
of DFMG Solicitors. In completing its Report, the Committee was informed
by an extensive consultation process undertaken by them to ensure that the
full range of views of the copyright community was available to them. The
Report is accompanied by a draft Bill designed to give effect to the
recommendations contained therein.
Launching the Report, Minister Bruton said:
“The digital industry is a key part of the Government’s Action Plan for
Jobs, and in the past two years we have put in place a range of measures to
support growth in this sector, including changes to increase the number of
people with relevant skills coming through the education and work permit
systems. In the past two years we have seen significant jobs growth in this
sector. However if we are to sustain and accelerate this we must
continually look over the next horizon and examine possible changes that
could improve our international offering in this area.
“That is why we commissioned this report to look at possible barriers to
innovation in this sector and measures we could take to remove them and
support further growth and innovation. Sincere thanks are due to Prof
O’Dell and his team for the incredible work they have put in to this
comprehensive report. We will now examine its recommendations along with
other relevant actors to see what changes we can make to ensure that we
continue and accelerate the jobs growth we need in this area”.
Minister Sherlock said “I want to thank most sincerely the members of the
Review Committee for their hard work and the huge level of personal
commitment they have given to complete this Report. Thanks are also due to
the many persons and organisations who took part in the extensive
consultation process. The timing of the Report is very opportune at a time
when, both at EU level and in a number of countries globally, it is
recognised that copyright reform is needed to best suit the needs of the
digital environment and is very much a live issue that legislators are
actively grappling with on many levels”.
“The Report proposes an array of positive reforms responding to the need to
make works more available for educational and research purposes, to provide
a stimulus for innovation, to make more publicly available our rich store
of cultural and heritage works and, to respond to the dynamically changing
needs of the digital environment. To a significant degree, the analogue
environment in which copyright has traditionally operated is not fit to
meet current realities in the online environment. Given the advancement in
social media and other channels of delivery for online content such as
music, news and films, consumers increasingly expect to be able to receive
legitimate content online quickly and that measures are in place to ensure
that the owners of the content i.e. the rightholders, are paid for the
content to allow delivery of the required services.
“Modernisation of copyright feeds into the delivery of the EU digital
agenda also and, while the agenda is much wider in scope, involving the
extension of broadband capability, digital signatures etc. it involves also
copyright and the need to provide for expeditious clearance of copyright
rights to deliver online content.
“This Report now provides Government with an outline roadmap to facilitate
the way forward on the copyright modernisation agenda” in order to respond
to issues that impact on innovation and the need for copyright to be fully
fit for the digital environment”.
ENDS
Note for Editors
Biographies of Committee Members
Dr Eoin O'Dell BCL (NUI), BCL(Oxon), MA (Dubl) (j.o.), LLM (Dubl)
(a.e.Oxon), PhD (Cantab), FTCD, Barrister-at-Law is an Associate Professor
of Law in Trinity College Dublin. He researches and publishes primarily in
the fields of private and commercial law (including IP, IT and cyberlaw),
and he teaches various IP law courses to graduate students and private law
courses to undergraduate students. He has been been President of the Irish
Association of Law Teachers, a Member of the Council and Executive of the
Society of Legal Scholars in the UK and Ireland, and Editor of the Dublin
University Law Journal; and he is the Chair of the Fellows of Trinity
College Dublin. He was a member of the group which advised the Department
of Justice on the Defamation Act, 2009, and a member of the Advisory Group
on a European Civil Code which advised the EU Commission on common
principles of European private law. He blogs at http://www.cearta.ie
Patricia McGovern is Chairman and Head of the Intellectual Property
Department of DFMG Solicitors. Ms. McGovern advises on all aspects of
intellectual property law. She is regarded as one of the leading
intellectual property lawyers in Ireland and has considerable experience in
advising on brand strategies, protection strategies for patents, trade
marks, designs and copyright and the prosecution of trade marks and
designs. She advises on all contentious aspects of intellectual property to
include patent, trade mark, copyright and design infringement actions. Her
practice also encompasses information technology, data protection,
e-commerce and franchising.
Professor Stephen William Hedley BSc, MA (Oxon), LLB (Cantab), Barrister
(Middle Temple), UCC. Professor Hedley joined the Faculty in September
2003, after teaching for 18 years at Cambridge in England. He has written
textbooks on Tort (latest edition 2002) and Restitution
(2001), an account
of the theory of Restitution (Restitution: Its division and ordering,
2001), and Law of Electronic Commerce and the Internet in the UK and
Ireland (2006). He has also co-edited (with M Halliwell) a reference work
on Restitution, and compiled two books of statutory materials. He blogs at
http://private-law-theory.org. He was Dean of Faculty from 2009 to 2012.
The report can be found at
www.enterprise.gov.ie/en/Publications/CRC-Report.pdf