Having urged a leave vote in the referendum, Nigel Adams led a debate on Intellectual Property on 28th February 2017 in Westminster Hall and said, "Intellectual property is one of the major areas of competence that will revert from Brussels to the UK when we leave the European Union". But amazingly, later in the debate (Col 28WH HERE) he seems to concede there is nothing wrong with what the EU does in this area, saying:
"I understand from my discussions that creators are broadly satisfied with the state of copyright law, so I have been talking broadly about enforcement issues and those to do with new technology. I am sure that other Members will expand on other areas. The Design and Artists Copyright Society believes that the artist’s resale right is fit for purpose, and it is interested in seeing that keep functioning well for the visual arts sector. I understand there is concern from authors to see the UK maintain and implement EU proposals giving them more access to information about the sale of their work and protecting them against unfair “take it or leave it” contracts, which see authors lose out when a book suddenly becomes a bestseller".
"Trade bodies such as the Publishers Association and UK Music have said that they would be grateful for a Government commitment to the current copyright regime following our exit from the EU. I hope that the Minister will take the opportunity to give everyone such an assurance".
In other words let us leave the EU, return areas of competence back to the UK, undergo massive upheaval so we can carry on with exactly the same IP laws and copyright regime as we have now but without any power to influence them in future and without being able to refer any cases to the European Court of Justice. Take back control? Honestly, what was the point?
