UK Music Chief Executive has welcomed the
Intellectual Property minister’s announcement today that he plans
to scrap the introduction of the Government’s broad copyright
exception for text and data mining purposes.
Last summer the Government set out proposals to amend copyright
law that would enable developers of artificial intelligence to
exploit copyright protected works without the permission of
creators and rightsholders.
The new copyright exception was greeted by a huge backlash from
the UK music industry, which likened the plans to “music
laundering” and warned of a “catastrophic” impact on the sector.
A strong copyright framework is key to the success of the UK
music industry, providing economic tools to creators and those
that invest in them. The Government’s proposal would have put
this framework at risk and caused huge potential damage to a
world-leading UK sector.
After months of campaigning from UK Music to scrap the proposal,
today in a debate in the House of Commons the intellectual
property minister said he and the DCMS
Minister felt that the proposals were
not correct and that they would “not be proceeding with these.”
He said: “We are looking to stop them and to return to office to
have a rather deeper conversation with the APPG who I met
yesterday, with experts in both Houses and with the industry.”
He also said that he was aware that a balance needed to be struck
and that it was fair to say that; “AI is coming at us as a
transformational technology at a pace that in Government we
haven’t had to deal with before.”
He went on to say; “We try and anticipate the challenges that are
coming, and get a regulatory framework in the UK that can keep
pace with the technology and the issues that it raises.”
Commenting on the announcement, said:
“UK
Music warmly welcomes the minister’s decision to scrap plans for
a catastrophic blanket copyright exception.
“The whole music industry has been united in its opposition to
these proposals, which would have paved the way for music
laundering and opened up our brilliant creators and rights
holders to gross exploitation.
“We are delighted to see the back of a policy that risked
irreparable damage to the global success story that is the UK
music industry.
“We now look forward to working with the Government to ensure any
future plans are evidence-based and allow artificial intelligence
and our world-leading creative industries to grow in tandem.”
