Government hints at change to IP laws
Higher Education and Intellectual Property Minister David Lammy has conceded that ‘it’s not clear all parliamentarians understand the importance of intellectual property’, when he addressed a conference on IP at the Houses of Parliament last night.
At the event hosted by the Intellectual Property Awareness Network, keynote speaker Sebastian Conran said that IP crime will ‘destabilise all industries if unchecked’.
Conran reminded his audience that, as well as funding crime, ‘jobs will be lost’ and that ‘it is a misconception IP is a victimless crime, as designers, inventors and entrepreneurs all lose money’.
Calling for ‘a fundamental change in attitudes’ as well as appropriate legal disincentives, Conran cited ‘amateurish’ anti-piracy ads as indicative of people’s lack of awareness. ‘By the time you’ve seen it, you’ve already paid for it,’ he joked.
Conran added that Great Britain needs to be seen as ‘robust’ on IP matters and offer ‘significant deterrents’ to those involved in IP crime.
Drawing his address to a close he said, ‘To attract designers to our shores, we must be able to enjoy profit and underwrite cost and risk… The hidden cost is too high.’
Lammy echoed Conran’s concern and hinted at change, speaking of safeguarding ‘innovation’ with ‘regulation’ and saying that more will be done ‘in coming months’.
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Lets not also forget that the University sector is somewhat poor in explaining this to students. Its inconsistent at best according to research I’ve read.
I listen to ex students from Swansea a lot and they really value having it explained and then considering it in their project work.