MEDIA STATEMENT

 23 March 2009 Media Statement

Finally, some leadership on Copyright issue    

Labour’s spokesperson on Communications and IT, Clare Curran, today welcomed the Government’s decision to intervene on section 92A of the Copyright Act, after weeks of calling for leadership on the issue.

“Labour has been calling on the Government to urgently work with stakeholders to ensure a workable code of practice is in place, and to establish a third party to resolve copyright disputes.

“National’s redrafting of section 92A will hopefully ensure there is a process to make it work.

“This was the intent of the amendment I twice attempted to introduce in Parliament over the recent weeks.

“Labour is holding talks with key stakeholders tomorrow night and acknowledges the importance of copyright issues and the need for future policy.

“The previous Labour Government aimed to encourage a code of practice that upholds the principles of the protection of intellectual property or copyright, and which does not place and undue burden on internet service providers (ISP’s).

Clare Curran says there are still several important issues that require ongoing policy work and which Labour will continue to concentrate its efforts on.

“More needs to be done on educating the public about copyright and what the best approach is to protecting copyright in the digital era.

“It’s good news that National finally took a leadership role around this contentious issue,” Clare Curran said.

ENDS

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