§ Mr. Abseasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action the British embassy in Seoul has taken to ensure the protection of British copyright works in South Korea, following discussions on the issue between the Prime Minister and President Chun in May.
§ Mr. PattieThe British embassy has continued to press the Korean Government to provide appropriate protection to British copyright works. The Minister for Trade also raised the issue during his recent visit to Seoul.
§ Mr. Abseasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what assessment he has made of the consequences for British copyright of the proposed bilateral agreement between the Government of South Korea and the United States of America;
(2) what information he has about whether the retrospective protection to be given to United States literary works by South Korea will also be extended to British works; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. PattieThe agreement between the United States of America and Korea on copyright and certain other matters has only just been announced, and the full details are not yet known. However, I understand that the agreement provides for copyright protection in Korea for foreign works published since 1977. I do not yet know the extent of this protection, and whether it will apply to works first published in the United Kingdom, but urgent inquiries are being made on these points.
§ Mr. Abseasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what is his policy on the protection of British copyright in the light of the United Kingdom Anti-Piracy Group's report "International Piracy—the threat to the British copyright industries", a copy of which was presented to him.
§ Mr. PattieThe Government's policy is to provide all the support they can to United Kingdom copyright owners in their efforts to combat piracy of their material in overseas markets. They will continue to press for comprehensive and enforceable copyright law in countries which lack it, and to encourage and participate in international initiatives against piracy and counterfeiting, for example, within the general agreement on tariffs and trade, the World Intellectual Property Organisation, and the European Community. As President of the Council of the Community the Government will do all they can to take these initiatives forward.
348WThe Government have agreed, in concert with their OECD partners, that trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights should be addressed in the new round of multilateral trade negotiations in the GATT, which it is hoped will be launched in September. They are also pressing that protection of foreign intellectual property rights should be included in Community discussions on trade matters with appropriate countries.
The Government were grateful for the report of the anti-piracy group and for the valuable information it contained. They hope to be in a position in the early autumn to discuss with the copyright industries the development of a detailed strategy in regard to those countries where copyright piracy and counterfeiting are most prevalent, following consultations with other countries whose copyright industries are also affected.