§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the President of the Board of Trade what steps he is 216W taking, in co-operation with other Governments, with a view to safeguarding international copyrights; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. DellAs I made clear in my Answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol, North-West (Mr. Ellis) on 12th November, we have no present intention of accepting the Protocol to the Berne Convention as revised in Stockholm last year. This Protocol allows such developing countries as are members of the Convention to grant a much lower standard of copyright protection than is demanded by the Convention itself.
We are taking part in international discussions aimed at clarifying the position as it now stands. This position is somewhat confused partly because of this Protocol and partly because there are now two separate international Conventions, the Berne and Universal Conventions. These have different but overlapping membership, different Secretariats and widely different standards.—[Vol. 773, c. 81–2.]