Copyright Review Committee Headed by Trinity Academic Publishes Report

Posted on: 31 October 2013

The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton, together with the Minister of State for Research and Innovation, Sean Sherlock, recently welcomed the publication of the report of the independent Copyright Review Committee, which is chaired by Dr Eoin O’Dell of Trinity College Dublin’s Law School.

The report, Modernising Copyright, is aimed at identifying any barriers for innovation in the digital environment and developing proposals for reducing them in order to provide greater support for growth and jobs in the digital industry.

Following publication, Minister Bruton and Minister Sherlock propose that the recommendations of the report will be carefully examined with other departments and agencies involved, with the intention of bringing forward legislative proposals for reform in this area to stimulate innovation and to ensure that Ireland is well positioned to meet the needs of the digital environment.

Minister Sherlock also announced the convening of a public forum on December the 9th at the Royal Irish Academy to allow the Committee to present its findings and the copyright community to probe these findings with members of the Committee.

The Report entitled “Modernising Copyright” was compiled by the Copyright Review Committee comprising Dr Eoin O’Dell of Trinity College (Chair), Professor Steve Hedley of University College Cork and Ms Patricia McGovern of DFMG Solicitors. In completing its report, the committee was informed by an extensive consultation process undertaken by them to ensure that the full range of views of the copyright community was available to them. The report is accompanied by a draft Bill designed to give effect to the recommendations contained therein.

Photographed at the launch of the Modernising Copyright report were Minister of State for Research and Innovation Sean Sherlock and Chair of the Copyright Review Committee Dr Eoin O’Dell of Trinity College Dublin’s Law School.

Launching the report, Minister Bruton said: “The digital industry is a key part of the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs, and in the past two years we have put in place a range of measures to support growth in this sector, including changes to increase the number of people with relevant skills coming through the education and work permit systems. In the past two years we have seen significant jobs growth in this sector. However if we are to sustain and accelerate this we must continually look over the next horizon and examine possible changes that could improve our international offering in this area.”

“That is why we commissioned this report to look at possible barriers to innovation in this sector and measures we could take to remove them and support further growth and innovation. Sincere thanks are due to Professor O’Dell and his team for the incredible work they have put in to this comprehensive report. We will now examine its recommendations along with other relevant actors to see what changes we can make to ensure that we continue and accelerate the jobs growth we need in this area”.