Copyright review consultations begin

Online consultations on a new copyright law review have begun, it was confirmed today.

Minister for Research and Innovation Sean Sherlock this morning announced consultations for the work of the Copyright Review Committee, which is examining the current legislation to identify areas that might be deemed to be barriers to innovation.

The committee hopes to provide draft heads of a Copyright and Related Rights (Innovation) (Amendment) Bill, 2012, to implement its recommendations shortly.

One of the questions which they pose in their consultation paper is whether all of the amendments to the Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000 which are still in force should be consolidated into the revised legislation.

Submissions on the consultation paper can be made via an online questionnaire on the committee's website, or directly to the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.

The closing date for submissions is April 13th, 2012.

Mr Sherlock said he was encouraging a wide participation in the consultation.

"I am committed to reviewing and updating the copyright legislation currently in place in order to strike the correct balance between encouraging innovation and protecting creativity, and the work of the committee is very important in this regard,” he said.

The Minister has been heavily criticised of late after the signing of a ministerial order allowing record labels and other copyright holders to seek legal injunctions against internet service providers allowing access to websites containing copyrighted material.

The order was signed into law last week.