Intellectual Property (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020

Lord Berkeley of Knighton Excerpts

Monday 14th September 2020 Grand Committee

[Lord Berkeley of Knighton (CB) [V]]

My Lords, I recognise that this is largely a technical instrument but it has considerable ramifications for the creative industries, so I hope the Minister will be indulgent about my ability to comprehend the finer details as I declare my interest as a composer rather than as a lawyer.

If I have understood it correctly, the central issue here is whether UK IP lawyers can represent rights holders before the IPO. I believe there is some contradiction between the EU and the British Government on this matter, with the EU saying that they cannot and our Government saying that they can. Perhaps the Minister will be kind enough to clarify that. Secondly, if there is no deal, that would see the UK’s IP legal community face greater competition than their counterparts, potentially weakening them. This clearly impacts on, or might impact on, the main issue for trademark holders, composers, writers, designers and others in the creative industries in relation to leaving the EU—their copyrights and ensuring that the high level of protection in directives is upheld.

Copyright, as the Minister said, is vital to maintaining the success of the creative industries in this country and, indeed, what they garner for the Exchequer. On a broader canvas, there is some good news. The Mechanical Copyright Protection Society—MCPS—is actively pursuing licensing in China. Last Friday’s Japanese trade deal with the UK has been heralded as going further in terms of copyright protection than the EU relationship, so I would be interested to know in exactly what way. Similarly, the Government have said that they no longer plan to implement the copyright directive agreed in the EU last year in the light of Brexit. How do they plan to ensure that services such as YouTube pay the fairer share to music creators which would otherwise have been afforded by the directive?

In 2015, the UK music industry won a landmark case against the UK Government, given their failure to award compensation for the use of music without permission on the grounds that it violated EU law. How can the UK music industry be certain that departure from the EU will not mean that copyright standards and protections will not be weakened if the standing of their legal representatives is undermined? Spotify and YouTube are welcome in many ways, but they discourage the sale of hard music. Why would you buy a £15 CD if you can access a pirated copy on the internet? If the Committee will forgive me giving a personal example, a couple of years ago I had a new piece at the Proms and to my astonishment it was available on YouTube within hours. It was certainly flattering, but very worrying because why would anyone want to record it commercially given its availability in the EU and around the world?

Our IP lawyers need strength to their elbows, not weakening of their grip. These are crucial issues for creators, so I look forward to some reassurance from the Minister.