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major_clangerI am currently reading Hansard. This is because I am writing an article about recent developments in the law that might affect 3D printing, and I want to understand the process by which HMG went about repealing s.52 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act. (Short version: this provided a useful get-out if you wanted to use copyright artwork that had been mass-reproduced by applied to a product - printing didn't count - more than 25 years ago.)
I found myself looking at the transcript of the 15th meeting of the Committee on the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill. I suspect that after 14 such meetings the members were getting a little bored and it appears that the odd note of levity may have crept into proceedings...
Dramatis Personae:
Norman Lamb (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills)
Ian Murray (Edinburgh South, Labour)
Fiona O'Donnell (East Lothian, Labour)
Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central, Labour)
Iain Wright (Hartlepool, Labour)
[On the preciseness of Hansard]
Norman Lamb: I join the shadow Minister in saying that it is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Brady.
Before I get on to the proposed new clause, I pay tribute to the unsung heroes of Hansard. We talk a lot about the work of Hansard and it has been mentioned many times in contributions by Opposition Committee members this afternoon. Its reputation for accuracy is impressive. On Tuesday, it accurately recorded an important exchange between myself and the hon. Member for Vale of Clwyd. I was addressing an important competition issue and the hon. Gentleman is reported as intervening with “Atishoo!” I do not think that I have ever seen that in writing before. My response was,
“Bless you. That was quite a shock.”––[Official Report, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Public Bill Committee, 10 July 2012; c. 501.]
That is recorded for posterity.
Mr Wright: On that point, given that it is now recorded twice in Hansard, and given that we are trying to promote efficiencies as much as possible, does the Minister think that there is duplication of effort here?
[Punctuation nit-picking]
Mr Wright: My point—I will finish in a sentence—is that the purpose behind part 3 of the schedule is to ensure that we can have an enterprise culture as much as possible in this country; I welcome what the Government are trying to do—
Norman Lamb: That is a second sentence.
Chi Onwurah: Comma.
Mr Wright: Semi-colon.
[Musical tastes]
Mr Wright: It is fitting that we are talking about this on 12 July, because it is 50 years to the day since the Rolling Stones played their first gig at the Marquee on 12 July 1962—I think the Minister of State was there. But to return to the present day, our small island has had a remarkable impact on popular music throughout the world. We had almost 13% of global music sales in 2011. One in eight albums sold around the world is British. The UK has had the best-selling album artist anywhere in the world in four of the past five years.
Norman Lamb: Not the Stone Roses, please.
Mr Wright: That’s next year. The UK’s best-selling album artists were Amy Winehouse in 2007; Coldplay in 2008; Adele in 2011; and—I have left the Minister’s favourite till last—Susan Boyle in 2009.
[A worrying preoccupation with 'Fifty Shades of Grey']
Ian Murray: Does my hon. Friend agree that the Minister should want to hear about publishing, given his significant contribution to publishing in this country with his marvellous book?
Mr Wright: Absolutely. I think it is currently the 480,000th most popular book sold on Amazon, which is quite impressive. I may be making up those figures. I have no empirical evidence whatever to support what I have said. I am taking a leaf—literally—from the Minister’s own book.
Publishing contributes £5 billion every year to our economy, and 41% of sector revenues come from export sales, which is a bigger proportion than any other country on earth. The UK book market is the fifth largest in the world and we are one of only four countries that produce more than 100,000 titles each year. I am sure the Minister is keen to wrap up the Committee and get on to his caravan holiday, where he can eat a pasty while reading “Fifty Shades of Grey”. It is not simply erotic fiction. I never thought I would use the phrase “erotic friction” in Committee. [Hon. Members: “Fiction.”] The friction is on page 115—[ Laughter. ]
[slightly later]
Norman Lamb: May I first of all disappoint the shadow Minister by confirming that I do not have a caravan, nor do I have “Fifty Shades of Grey”? He should not judge others by his own standards. He is obviously dreaming of his summer holidays ahead and his erotic literature, sitting in a caravan somewhere on the edge of Hartlepool. That vision does not inspire me, but each to their own.
[and a little later still]
Fiona O'Donnell: As I say, much of what we circulate is not subject to copyright law. But what about extracts from published works which appear in a paper, such as pages 10 to 12 of “Fifty Shades of Grey”? I have not read the book. I do not know whether I would want to post a link to that as I am more of an M and S girl than S and M. [ Laughter. ] However, many Members post links to something in a newspaper when the content of the newspaper is subject to copyright law.
Norman Lamb: The answer there is that it depends on the size of the extract from “Fifty Shades of Grey” that the hon. Lady was seeking to disseminate to her followers. I am getting extremely concerned about the activities of Labour Members, particularly over the lazy summer months.
I found myself looking at the transcript of the 15th meeting of the Committee on the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill. I suspect that after 14 such meetings the members were getting a little bored and it appears that the odd note of levity may have crept into proceedings...
Dramatis Personae:
Norman Lamb (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills)
Ian Murray (Edinburgh South, Labour)
Fiona O'Donnell (East Lothian, Labour)
Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central, Labour)
Iain Wright (Hartlepool, Labour)
[On the preciseness of Hansard]
Norman Lamb: I join the shadow Minister in saying that it is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Brady.
Before I get on to the proposed new clause, I pay tribute to the unsung heroes of Hansard. We talk a lot about the work of Hansard and it has been mentioned many times in contributions by Opposition Committee members this afternoon. Its reputation for accuracy is impressive. On Tuesday, it accurately recorded an important exchange between myself and the hon. Member for Vale of Clwyd. I was addressing an important competition issue and the hon. Gentleman is reported as intervening with “Atishoo!” I do not think that I have ever seen that in writing before. My response was,
“Bless you. That was quite a shock.”––[Official Report, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Public Bill Committee, 10 July 2012; c. 501.]
That is recorded for posterity.
Mr Wright: On that point, given that it is now recorded twice in Hansard, and given that we are trying to promote efficiencies as much as possible, does the Minister think that there is duplication of effort here?
[Punctuation nit-picking]
Mr Wright: My point—I will finish in a sentence—is that the purpose behind part 3 of the schedule is to ensure that we can have an enterprise culture as much as possible in this country; I welcome what the Government are trying to do—
Norman Lamb: That is a second sentence.
Chi Onwurah: Comma.
Mr Wright: Semi-colon.
[Musical tastes]
Mr Wright: It is fitting that we are talking about this on 12 July, because it is 50 years to the day since the Rolling Stones played their first gig at the Marquee on 12 July 1962—I think the Minister of State was there. But to return to the present day, our small island has had a remarkable impact on popular music throughout the world. We had almost 13% of global music sales in 2011. One in eight albums sold around the world is British. The UK has had the best-selling album artist anywhere in the world in four of the past five years.
Norman Lamb: Not the Stone Roses, please.
Mr Wright: That’s next year. The UK’s best-selling album artists were Amy Winehouse in 2007; Coldplay in 2008; Adele in 2011; and—I have left the Minister’s favourite till last—Susan Boyle in 2009.
[A worrying preoccupation with 'Fifty Shades of Grey']
Ian Murray: Does my hon. Friend agree that the Minister should want to hear about publishing, given his significant contribution to publishing in this country with his marvellous book?
Mr Wright: Absolutely. I think it is currently the 480,000th most popular book sold on Amazon, which is quite impressive. I may be making up those figures. I have no empirical evidence whatever to support what I have said. I am taking a leaf—literally—from the Minister’s own book.
Publishing contributes £5 billion every year to our economy, and 41% of sector revenues come from export sales, which is a bigger proportion than any other country on earth. The UK book market is the fifth largest in the world and we are one of only four countries that produce more than 100,000 titles each year. I am sure the Minister is keen to wrap up the Committee and get on to his caravan holiday, where he can eat a pasty while reading “Fifty Shades of Grey”. It is not simply erotic fiction. I never thought I would use the phrase “erotic friction” in Committee. [Hon. Members: “Fiction.”] The friction is on page 115—[ Laughter. ]
[slightly later]
Norman Lamb: May I first of all disappoint the shadow Minister by confirming that I do not have a caravan, nor do I have “Fifty Shades of Grey”? He should not judge others by his own standards. He is obviously dreaming of his summer holidays ahead and his erotic literature, sitting in a caravan somewhere on the edge of Hartlepool. That vision does not inspire me, but each to their own.
[and a little later still]
Fiona O'Donnell: As I say, much of what we circulate is not subject to copyright law. But what about extracts from published works which appear in a paper, such as pages 10 to 12 of “Fifty Shades of Grey”? I have not read the book. I do not know whether I would want to post a link to that as I am more of an M and S girl than S and M. [ Laughter. ] However, many Members post links to something in a newspaper when the content of the newspaper is subject to copyright law.
Norman Lamb: The answer there is that it depends on the size of the extract from “Fifty Shades of Grey” that the hon. Lady was seeking to disseminate to her followers. I am getting extremely concerned about the activities of Labour Members, particularly over the lazy summer months.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-15 09:24 am (UTC)Have you gone to the IPO website yet, btw? I think the repeal of s.52 is part of the implementation of Hargreaves, which they've been tracking, and they may have collected useful links there.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-15 12:01 pm (UTC)In terms of the s.52 repeal this wasn't part of Hargreaves (his report doesn't even seem to mention s.52). Rather, it seems from this impact assessment (PDF) that HMG was lobbied heavily by furniture manufacturers in light of the decision in Case C-168/09 Flos v Semeraro (see 1709 Blog article). Lionel Bently thinks that this is a knee-jerk over-reaction and that the CJEU got it wrong anyway, but there we are.
Given that s.52 is going (s.74 ERRA 2013 isn't fully in force yet) my question is how we are dealing with works that previously fell within it. In the committee meeting I quote from, Norman Lamb (the USoS) indicated that there would be a transitional period but in due course s.52 would simply cease to apply:
"We recognise that the repeal of section 52 may have implications for those who manufacture, distribute or sell replicas, such as, for example, replicas of classic home ware, and it is important that we take their concerns into account. [...] We want to minimise adverse impacts on sellers of replicas. Although we recognise the absolute importance of promoting the design industry, we must take account of others who may be affected and minimise such impacts. We will make transitional provisions to allow sellers affected by the change sufficient time to clear their existing stock and to assess which, if any, of their replicas might infringe copyright. My officials have already had constructive meetings with replica furniture makers. They will therefore be allowed enough time to seek from any relevant copyright owners the necessary permission to continue importing and selling replicas, or to modify their supply contracts and products." (Hansard, Column 619)
In the Lords, Viscount Younger of Leckie (the Lords USoS) took a subtly different stance on March 11th:
"There are concerns about what happens to copies of an artistic work made after the expiry of the 25-year design protection but while Section 52 remains in force. I can confirm that any copy made, distributed or imported into the UK or communicated to the public while Section 52 is in effect will be unaffected by the change in the law. However, if, for example, a book containing photographs of artistic works is reprinted after Section 52 is repealed, permission will need to be sought from the relevant rights owners unless a copyright exception applies." (Hansard, Columns 19-20)
In other words, it seems that policy is now going to be that items that didn't infringe copyright by virtue of s.52 won't suddenly become infringing copies when s.52 is actually repealed. But fresh reproductions will infringe. That's certainly Class 99's interpretation.
What this does mean is that owners of 3D printers hoping to safely mine pre-1988 mass-produced products either as items to print in their own right, or as a source of surface decoration, will be disappointed.
Another Fine Messalina You've Got Us Into...
Date: 2013-05-15 07:29 pm (UTC)