A vision for growth in IP-rich businesses

The Alliance for Intellectual Property is an organisation working across the creative industries, in the UK, via their trade bodies, to ensure intellectual property rights receive the protection they need and deserve.

On Monday 28 April, the Alliance launched its Manifesto, outlining the requirements of both Government and the Creative Industries to continue to build on the success of the sector in the UK. The Manifesto is intended to help inform political party manifestos of the importance of the Creative, Design and Branded Goods industries, in the run up to the General Election in 2015. 

Richard Mollet, Chair of the Alliance for Intellectual Property, provided some background on where IP legislation was in the UK today. Following the previous General Election, it was widely thought that the enormity of the Gowers Review and the progress of implementation of some of its recommendations by the IPO, had put to bed many of the issues surrounding IP legislation.  It came as some surprise when the Coalition Government, primarily Prime Minister David Cameron, announced a whole new review of IP legislation in the UK, to be led by Professor Ian Hargreaves.  The review sought to jettison the existing framework of IP legislation that businesses strongly rely and has led to considerable uncertainty in the market.

Susie Winter, Director General at the Alliance for Intellectual Property, noted that the Manifesto document was produced following an extensive survey of the Creative Industries and from more detailed discussions with many of those respondents.  There were several very clear messages that arose:

• IP is very important to growth (89% of businesses felt it very important with a further 9% somewhat important)
• Developments in technology were seen as a key growth area for over 50% of respondents
• Over 90% of businesses felt that a stable IP framework was crucial for their business to gain investment

Set against this, there were a number of very clear messages about what the Government has been doing to support Creative Industries:

• The UK Government has not been very effective in making the UK an attractive location for basing a business reliant on IP
• Public enforcement bodies have not been very effective in policing IP crime
• Current deterrents against IP infringement are not very effective. The biggest threats facing Creative Industries were piracy, copying, counterfeiting and the weakening of IP rights.

Sticking the boot in

A couple of industry representatives then gave us their view.  Rachel Dews of Hunter Boots introduced the brands she is responsible for, which from small beginnings in Scotland in 1856, now have offices in Edinburgh, London and New York.  She emphasised that it is not just loss of earnings due to IP infringement that was the problem.  Counterfeit goods threatened the perception of their products, due to poor manufacturing standards, both in the quality of the product produced and the ethical standards of production.  The UK was currently in a privileged position in terms of the number of IP-rich businesses.  She called on political parties to recognise the importance brands play in the economy and start supporting it more effectively.

The Alliance's IP Map of the UK

Reel investment

On a more positive note, Trevor Albery from Warner Brothers, described the key investments they have made in the UK, which had been possible under the existing IP framework.  Leavesden Studios was now attracting key business to the UK, and the purchase of IP-rich businesses by Time Warner indicates the key talent base that the UK has in the movie, games and television industries.  IP is the building block in this field and the UK’s current standing in these areas internationally is a reflection of that.   It was essential to be able to make returns on the investment in IP in order to continue further investment and retain the UK’s leading position.

Lavinia Carey, Director General of the British Video Association, discussed how the Manifesto called on industry to continue to play its part.  There are already a number of industry initiatives and licensing has been at the heart of many of them.   

Music to our ears

Licensing has seen the UK become home to the greatest number of music providers in the world, has the biggest games industry in Europe and helped launch locker services such Ultraviolet. The Content Map, launched in November 2012, has just seen a version made available in The Netherlands.  Campaigns such as Moments worth Paying For and the Real Deal have helped consumers understand the value of the content they are being asked to pay for, and had a significant effect on criminal activity in markets in the UK and overseas, respectively. 

The industry is working hard to maintain its world-leading position in the UK and must continue to support the UK Government by providing the best evidence it can to support policy-making.  Government must listen to the evidence.  IP crime undermines the ability of the industry to provide what the consumer wants. 

Richard Mollet reiterated what the industry would like to see from Government:

• Cessation of the IP change agenda.  Industry has consistently proved that legislation is appropriate and the Government needs to acknowledge this
• Support for IP in the investment community, which will come from a clear signal of a stable IP framework.
• Representation and defence of the IP-rich creative industries outside the UK.  The UK is second only to the US in exporting music and has one of the largest publishing industries in the world.  

Press release
Manifesto

Valuing Intellectual Property. Priorities for New Governments: Meeting Consumer and Business Expectations in the UK and Europe

Vince Cable addresses the audience

Valuing IP was the third annual intellectual property conference held by the Alliance for IP in London today. Delegates heard a number of high profile political figures - from Vince Cable to the EU Commissioner for the Internal Market Michel Barnier - on the value for intellectual property and the latest policy directions.

Rick Nye, Director of research and strategy consultancy Populus, kicked off with a few key statistics. They interviewed 2,052 British adults online in September 2013 to explore public attitudes towards intellectual property rights. Some of the findings are striking, while some will come as no surprise. People born after 1980 are twice as likely to commit IP infringement than those born before. IP infringement is a massive issue for the creative industries. Interestingly, respondents were far more comfortable with the concept of goods and services IP infringement, but not so with personal data.

Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, stated his long standing interest in IP and copyright. There is wide recognition within the UK government of how important the creative industries are to the UK economy. What creates economic growth? Research suggests 40% comes from innovation of various kinds, which is underpinned by IP and copyright. He believes that Britain is particularly good at the fusion of creative and science, technical and engineering, but there is a challenge around building skills and balancing across science, technical, arts and engineering, to ensure we have the best workforce to adapt and innovate. The work of the Creative Industries Council and Creative Skillset are central to this aim.

There have been positive steps forward in the last few years with the launch of the Copyright Hub and a lot of progress for developing common standards for data standards. It is important for the UK to be the European centre for content licensing. Other initiatives include IP attaches around the world, small claims track in county court, and - reflecting the balance to strike in each area between protection and access - small changes in copyright to allow acceptable consumer behaviour (e.g. transferring across devices).

Cable believes there is an important role for government to play with educating on the importance of IP. While abuse of IP seems to be declining and more people are paying for their music, there still remains a hardcore: 10% of infringers are responsible for three quarters of infringement. The IPO will launch the 'Music Ink' download game designed to reach over 1 million young people, which will communicate the basic idea of damage done by illegal downloading.

The audience had the opportunity to take part in regular live polls. When asked 'Has the government been supportive of those who rely on IP?' 16.7% chose 'not supportive', 69% 'quite supportive', and 14.3% 'very supportive'. Panellists Mike Weatherley MP, the Prime Minister's Advisor on IP, Martin Spence, Assistant General Secretary at BECTU and Bill Bush, Director of Policy at the Premier League were in general agreement with this spread of sentiment.

Arlene McCarthy in conversation with Lord Clement-Jones

Lord Clement-Jones, 'in conversation' with Arlene McCarthy MEP, stated his belief that the Copyright Hub is the best thing to come out of the Hargreaves report and we need to ensure the UK perspective is represented fully in Europe. McCarthy provided a rude awakening on Britain's standing in the EU. While we have a pretty good track record of pushing through necessary IP protections. (e.g. trade marks, customs regulations, orphan works, etc) the UK's influence in Europe is not good, as we have failed to engage. We are not a popular member state because of the way we negotiate. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is an example of this. Many felt it was a good thing, but it went down in a blaze of fire.

Opposition from those who don't like copyright can be strong. Often votes are won only by narrow margins. When people really want something they are highly motivated (e.g. UKIP, Pirate Party, etc) We have to be ahead of and stealthier than them. Industry has to be fit to adapt and tackle the challenge of the internet, but that doesn't mean changing copyright legislation if it's fit for purpose. McCarthy's sentiments echoed those of Eric Merkel-Sobotta, who urged publishers at the recent ALPSP conference to find out who their MEP is and to write, write, write to them to ensure our voice is heard.

She believes that UK industry always has an open door. The move away from Hargreaves has improved our standing in the EU. The ecommerce directive does actually work quite well - fast and quick. A separate notice and take down directive will potentially add more barriers. France and Italy have a big stake in this and are likely to support us. Germany is more ambivalent as their manufacturing is so strong, the creative industries are not as crucial, and they believe that content should be more freely available. For the UK, the creative industries are the only ones holding their own in the financial crisis. We need to support them.

There is a huge opportunity: the internet is there to use in different ways. In the end, the internet needs content - it is its life blood. The creative industries should be more robust about their position. In return for that content, the internet companies should work with us to support us. McCarthy believes there is room for both free and professional content on the internet. And it is not unreasonable that professional content should be paid for. After all, she wouldn't expect a plumber to come and fix her boiler and then not pay him.

The conference closed with a key note speech from Michel Barnier, EU Commissioner for the Internal Market. IP is the backbone to the market with €4.7 trillion generated by IP each year and more than a third of all jobs are directly or indirectly from IP intensive roles.

There is a balance between this and ensuring IP legislation is fit for purpose in the 21st century. IP is not just about jobs and economic value, it's part of life for everyone: not just about how we consume content, but also about rights, access to information and diversity. Copyright must not be a block to content creation. The EU published a road map on developing copyright last December. Reform is long overdue and the aim is to catch-up now. The full transcription of Barnier's talk is available online.