HC Deb 27 July 1988 vol 138 cc278-9W
Mr. Neale

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what information he has received from the Government of Indonesia relating to their intentions to grant equal status to copyright works of United Kingdom citizens to those granted to citizens of the United States; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Forth

Her Majesty's Government are currently negotiating an agreement with the Government of Indonesia for the mutual protection of copyright works. This will enlarge on the protection which is already available for sound recordings. I understand that a United States-Indonesia agreement is also being negotiated.

Mr. Neale

To ask the Chancellor for the Duchy of Lancaster (1) what information he has received from the Government of Korea relating to their intentions to grant equal status to copyright works of United Kingdom citizens to those granted to citizens of the United States of America; and if he will make a statement;

(2) what representations he has made to the Republic of Korea about British books being pirated there on a large scale; and if he will make a statement;

(3) what representations have been made to him by Macmillan publishers relating to the pirating in the Republic of Korea of the multi-volume work of reference published under the title "The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics"; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Forth

Since the accession of the Republic of Korea to the universal copyright convention in October 1987, British books published have been protected in that country. It is, therefore, open to publishers to take action in Korea in respect of the piracy of such works, for example, the Palgrave dictionary. The Community negotiated with Korea to obtain protection for older works and to obtain certain benefits in respect of patents; all of these rights had been granted to the United States and the Community was therefore seeking parity of treatment. The negotiations broke down and as a result the Community suspended Korea's benefits under the generalised system of preferences, where the matter now stands.