Address by Minister Ahern at the Opening of the AGM of International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisation

Ladies and gentlemen and distinguished guests,

I am delighted to have been asked to open the 2007 Annual General Meeting of the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisation here this morning (Thursday 18^th October, 2007) at the new Radisson Hotel at Golden Lane, Dublin.

I am particularly delighted that you have chosen to hold this year’s assembly in Ireland and I would like, firstly, to extend to you all a most sincere and hearty “Céad Mile Fáilte” (or hundred thousand welcomes) to our capital city.

My new role as Minister for Innovation Policy involves, amongst other things, responsibility for ensuring that Ireland maintains a modern corpus of intellectual property legislation and a modern registration system required to support the Irish innovation system. Previously during my tenure as Minister for Trade and Commerce from 2002 to June Intellectual Property also formed part of my remit so I am well aware of the importance of copyright and protecting the rights of authors, artists and publishers.

I understand that your organisation is an international, independent, non-profit body representing the interests of collective management organisations in the field of print media and is active in every continent, with some 50 reproductive rights organisations and about 60 national and international author, publisher and visual creator associations as members or associate members. This includes, of course, our own national body, the Irish Copyright Licensing Agency, the ICLA, which is headed up by Samantha Holman.

From the point of view of Irish rightsholders, the ICLA’s membership of your Federation has two distinct advantages. It means, firstly, that the licences sold here in Ireland cover not only Irish works but also foreign works through bilateral reciprocal agreements and, secondly, that Irish rightsholders receive royalties from the ICLA’s sister organisations for photocopying of Irish works abroad.

In terms of the distribution of royalties, I was happy to see that, over the last five years, the ICLA has distributed approximately €750,000 to rightsholders and that, for the current year alone (2007), the distribution figure is expected to be in excess of that figure.

I am well aware that IFRRO members also play a key role in the development of cultural diversity, knowledge and education by helping to set up the legal and administrative frameworks necessary for the growth of local publishing industries and that, in your worldwide development programmes, you work in partnership with organisations such as the World Intellectual Property Organisation and UNESCO in undertaking copyright awareness campaigns, and training local administrators and officials in rights management.

I also note that part of IFRRO’s mission is to encourage respect for the international copyright principles embodied in the Berne and Universal Copyright Conventions and in the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

I gather that you expect up to 200 representatives of your international membership and guests to attend this week’s extensive programme of events here in Dublin, and I am very happy to see you all here both as visitors and as working delegates.

As our own representatives have probably told you by now, Ireland has a very long tradition in the field of reproductive rights and, specifically, in the area of copyright. Our earliest annals refer to what was, effectively, a copyright ruling by the High King of Ireland in 561 A.D. in a dispute between two of our most famous historical clerics, St Colmcille and St Finnian, over a book of the Gospels which Colmcille copied, without permission, while a guest of St Finnian.

After hearing both sides of the dispute, King Diarmuid issued an inspired ruling, which resonates down to this day:

“ To every cow its calf and to every book its copy”.

I am not sure if the head represented on the notepaper of the Irish Copyright Licensing Agency is meant to represent the cow or the calf, but I am sure that that organisation sees itself as following in that very historic tradition.

I should perhaps add, by way of caution, that the King’s decision at the time was not very well received by Colmcille, who immediately summoned his kinsmen, who then went to war on his behalf and, in fact, engaged the High King in a pitched battle in which thousands of men were slain on both sides! A fairly extreme form of appeal – I am sure you will agree!

In the end though, so shocked was Colmcille by the slaughter and loss of life that he himself went into voluntary exile, never to return to Ireland.

Nowadays we have much more civilised ways of solving copyright disputes in this country and I am happy to say that the ICLA do not have to sally forth accompanied by armed guards when they go to collect fees on behalf of authors and publishers, however unwelcome their approaches might occasionally be!

I think we can all agree that copyright and its related rights are essential to human creativity, by giving creators incentives in the form of recognition and fair economic rewards. Under this system of rights, creators are assured that their works can be disseminated without fear of unauthorized copying or piracy. This in turn helps increase access to and enhances the enjoyment of culture, knowledge and entertainment all over the world.

The principal legislation governing copyright in Ireland is the relatively recent Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000. This Act consolidated and updated the corpus of law (including relevant EU Directives) and put them all together in a single statute which provided a clear and central focus point for anyone with an interest in copyright issues.

Overall, the Act has worked well and I think the ICLA have acknowledged that the positive attitude towards collective management set out in the Act has been largely responsible for the growth of that organisation since 2003 and the large increase in remuneration for creators and publishers of copyright content. I was also glad to see, earlier this year, that the Business Software Alliance, in their international study on Piracy Losses, acknowledged that we had one of the most stringent copyright laws in Europe.

Since 2000 we have had two very minor amendments of the main Act, for essentially technical purposes. At the moment I am bringing a further piece of amending legislation through our two Houses of Parliament.

The purpose of this piece of legislation is to effectively regularise the position in Ireland as regards the lending of copyright works through the public library system, and it follows the European Court of Justice decision earlier this year in relation to the transposition of the EU Directive on rental and lending rights.

The Bill, which I have introduced, proposes a two-pronged approach reflecting the distinct responsibilities of the two Government Departments with an interest in this issue – my own Department, with responsibility for Intellectual Property legislation, and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, which has overall responsibility for the public library system in Ireland.

When this legislation has been enacted, it is my intention to proceed with a further measure to deal with other changes, which may be considered necessary in the overall intellectual property area. For example, I have already indicated that I intend to make some changes to the Artists Resale Rights Regulations which I made last year giving effect to the European Union Directive, and which introduced a new right and a new concept in Irish intellectual property law.

A number of other amendments to the existing Act have also been suggested to me, by the various interest groups in the Intellectual Property area, in recent times, and I will be taking all of these into account in looking at what further changes may need to be made at that point.

Returning to your assembly, I would like to acknowledge the presence of many distinguished delegates at this event, including representatives of the European Parliament and of the World Intellectual Property Organisation.

In concluding, may I wish you all every success in your endeavours this year and hope that you have both a productive and an enjoyable time here in Dublin.

Thank you.

ENDS/IP14