SoA renews calls for 'gold standard' copyright regime post-Brexit

Society of Authors c.e.o. Nicola Solomon has renewed calls for Britain to retain its “gold standard” rules on copyright now it has left the European Union.

Solomon was speaking at an online event organised by the Westminster Media Forum which also featured Robin Stout, deputy director of copyright policy at the Intellectual Property Office, alongside representatives of other industries and copyright experts.

A main area for discussion was the EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, something that has not been directly transposed into UK law. The directive, passed by the European Parliament in 2019, had been welcomed by many in the UK creative industries because it included provisions on transparency, fair dealing, rights reversion and checks on digital platforms.

However, Stout told the event, although the UK would learn lessons from the EU directive, there were “no plans” to copy it.

He said: “Now that we have left the EU our main goal is to maintain the same high standards on copyright and enforcement that we had. Our agreement with the EU commits both sides to protecting IP rights to a very high level and ensures high standards are maintained across both territories. But it also allows us to build on this strong base and to develop our own approaches to copyright regulation in the future.”

He said new international trade deals gave the government a chance to agree an effective, balanced global framework of copyright rules. The government was currently “refreshing” its strategy on IP enforcement which will be published in the summer and would also be consulting on how to approach the exhaustion of rights later this year.

Citing recent Society of Authors figures, Solomon said average earnings for authors now stood at £10,500, a fall of 42% over 10 years. “Not only during Covid but before Covid, creators are getting less and less of a share of the pie and platforms are taking very large amounts,” she warned.

Mourning the loss of the copyright directive, she said: “It's vital the UK's gold standard copyright framework is maintained. I'm concerned about fair use and widening exceptions where what we've got at the moment is still not protecting creators enough.”

Any exhaustion regime should support current territorial licensing models and the collective licensing system in the UK should not be changed for different exceptions, she suggested.

Asked about what she wanted from future trade deals, she highlighted the need for enforceability, traceability and the protection of metadata. The SoA has been calling for existing copyright laws to be kept, including the fair dealing on exceptions, while the UK should adopt a national exhaustion framework rather than an international one that could erode the current system of rights territories.

“We want to make sure that we continue to have a thriving copyright regime which is well balanced for everybody and I look forward with others to contributing to the debate,” Solomon said.