Asked by: Pete Wishart (Scottish National Party - Perth and North Perthshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the financial impact on the UK audio-visual sector of his decision to expand the text and data mining exception.
Answered by Jane Hunt
The Government asked specific questions about impact in the consultation on AI and IP, but received very limited quantitative evidence. An impact assessment will be published alongside the legislation when laid. The proposed exception will be targeted to limit negative impacts, and the government welcomes further evidence from rights holders on how to best achieve this.
Asked by: Pete Wishart (Scottish National Party - Perth and North Perthshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has had recent discussions with representatives from the EU to understand whether the simultaneous disclosure of unregistered designs in the UK and EU would provide protection for those designs in the UK and EU.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The UK sought an agreement with the EU on reciprocal disclosure for unregistered designs. This would have been beneficial to UK design businesses. However, the
EU decided to pass up the opportunity to conclude such mutually beneficial text, which is disappointing. There are no plans to revisit this issue with our EU partners.
However, the Government recognises that this an important issue for UK designers and will consider it in our future work on the UK designs system.
Asked by: Pete Wishart (Scottish National Party - Perth and North Perthshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of raising the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court Small Claims Track Cap to £25,000 in line with a Fast-Track claim.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
As part of its work on IP enforcement issues the IPO has facilitated a series of working groups over the last year looking at the enforcement framework. The cost and accessibility of court processes for IP disputes was considered as part of this review, and questions on these topics were included in the call for views which closed in November this year. The IPO is currently considering the responses received from that exercise and will carry out further assessment as necessary before any recommendations are taken forwards.
Asked by: Pete Wishart (Scottish National Party - Perth and North Perthshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to implement recommendation 13b in Annex G of the Digital Market’s Taskforce’s report entitled A new pro-competition regime for digital markets.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government is committed to ensuring digital markets remain competitive and deliver positive outcomes for consumers, small businesses, and society. That is why we have announced funding to establish a new Digital Markets Unit within the Competition and Markets Authority from 2021-22.
We set up the Digital Markets Taskforce in March to offer expert advice. We will now consider the recommendations, including 13b and consult on proposals for a new pro-competition regime for digital markets in early 2021.
Asked by: Pete Wishart (Scottish National Party - Perth and North Perthshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing an online system to submit claims to the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court Small Claims Track.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
As part of its work on IP enforcement issues the IPO has facilitated a series of working groups over the last year looking at the enforcement framework. The cost and accessibility of court processes for IP disputes was considered as part of this review, and questions on these topics were included in the call for views which closed in November this year. The IPO is currently considering the responses received from that exercise and will carry out further assessment and consult other departments as necessary before any recommendations are taken forwards.
Asked by: Pete Wishart (Scottish National Party - Perth and North Perthshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions his Department has had with the Ministry of Justice on the publication of judgments from the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court Small Claims Track.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
As part of its work on IP enforcement issues the IPO has facilitated a series of working groups over the last year looking at the enforcement framework. The cost and accessibility of court processes for IP disputes was considered as part of this review, and questions on these topics were discussed with Ministry of Justice officials before being included in the call for views which closed in November this year. The IPO is currently considering the responses received from that exercise and will discuss any potential recommendations with other departments and the Judiciary as appropriate.
Asked by: Pete Wishart (Scottish National Party - Perth and North Perthshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the level of reliance of UK creative industries on UK-based trade mark attorneys; what assessment he has made of trends in the level of that reliance after the transition period; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The UK’s highly skilled legal profession play a vital role in advising UK businesses in the creative sector, and indeed across all sectors, on how to make the most from their IP portfolios
Officials at the Intellectual Property Office are having ongoing conversations with representative bodies over how to best address any issues they may face once the transition period ends.
Asked by: Pete Wishart (Scottish National Party - Perth and North Perthshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure the protection of the intellectual property of people in the creative industries in the event that a UK EU trade agreement is (a) agreed and (b) not agreed after the end of the transition period.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government’s approach to negotiations between the UK and the EU aims to secure an Intellectual Property Chapter that includes mutual assurances to maintain high standards of protection for IP rights, including registered IP rights such as patents, trademarks and designs; and unregistered rights such as copyright, and trade secrets. The approach also reflects international agreements such as the WTO agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property and World Intellectual Property Organisation treaties.
If no further negotiated agreement is reached between the UK and the EU, the arrangements in the intellectual property section of the Withdrawal Agreement take effect at the end of the transition period. These arrangements provide legal certainty and protect the interests of rightsholders and users of the IP framework.
Asked by: Pete Wishart (Scottish National Party - Perth and North Perthshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what new protections are being offered to UK IP legal practitioners who help support IP rights owners after the transition period.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Officials at the Intellectual Property Office and Ministry of Justice are working together and continue to have conversations with representative bodies over how to best address issues they may face once the transition period ends.
Asked by: Pete Wishart (Scottish National Party - Perth and North Perthshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to respond to the letter dated 14 April 2020 from the hon Member for Perth and North Perthshire, reference PW10251.
Answered by Paul Scully
A reply was sent to the hon Member on 29 April.