The British Copyright Council deplores the approval of the final two Regulations on Private Copying and on Quotation and Parody.
The Debate (see Hansard columns 1553-1582) in the House of Lords was of an exceptionally high standard and speakers were knowledgeable and eloquent. Almost all the points made by Peers were against the introduction of the two Regulations. Several raised unanswered questions about contractual override provisions and Government’s policy objectives. Others spoke about the risks to the UK’s Creative Industries and the detrimental effect of choosing secondary over primary legislation.
During the debate the new Minister for IP confirmed that the Strategy for evaluating the impact of the five Regulations on exceptions will be published and the BCC asks that appropriate consultations take place in advance of publication and that rights holders are encouraged to contribute to the evaluation process.
The debate highlighted a lack of clarity in Government’s objectives and wavering priorities for this legislation but its oft-quoted financial rationale for their introduction has remained. That is, reliance upon Impact Assessments which anticipate benefits from the introduction of the five Regulations to be £500 million over 10 years, with £260 million (see the relevant Impact Assessment) somehow being generated from the introduction of a Personal Copying exception and £3 million from an exception for Quotation and Parody.
It is hard to see how a policy designed to add value to the UK economy and ensure strong, sustainable and balanced growth can be supported by the introduction of an exception for quotation and parody which, even on the Government’s estimate, will bring in no more than £3 million over 10 years.
It is also hard to see how an exception, which by its nature, is personal to an individual owning a legitimate copy of a work, can produce any financial benefit for the economy or encourage UK growth. While Government’s failure to provide fair compensation and the inclusion of “cloud” electronic storage in the exception can only be to the financial detriment of individual creators and performers and ultimately to the UK’s creative industries.