Intellectual Property And Growth

The Government Response to the Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property and Growth

Government Response to the Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property and Growth

Foreword

Britain’s future depends on harnessing knowledge and ideas to their full potential. That is true for each of us individually: developing our own skills and abilities brings many rewards. It is also true for the UKas a whole. UK business invests more in intangible assets than physical ones, and nearly half of that intangible investment – £65 billion in 2008 – was in intellectual property (IP). IP’s contribution to the UK’s economy is therefore both substantial and vital. Its wider impacts on society, in terms of culture, education and basic human rights such as freedom of expression, are no less important.The Government’s ambition is to build on the UK’s great strengths in all these areas by making it easier to use IP to create value across the economy and across our society, in ways that are fair to everyone, while continuing to deter the infringements of IP that threaten its value. In May this year, Professor Ian Hargreaves delivered his report, “Digital Opportunity: an Independent Review of IPand Growth”, which set out a powerful vision for the UK’s future success through better uses of IP. The Government is grateful to him and his team for their hard work and particularly commends their resolution to ground their report in reliable evidence. This response to that report sets out the Government’s broad acceptance of its recommendations and outlines how we propose to act on them. Italso indicates the way we will be tackling online copyright infringement, both through the Digital Economy Act and through voluntary action by responsible businesses. This is not the limit of the Government’s ambitions for IP. We are publishing alongside this document the UK’s IP Crime Strategy and International strategy for IP, which expand on our plans to defend brands and creative content fromillegal copying and to encourage other countries to share our vision for a future where more value is created from IP not just in the UK but across the world. Ultimately, success will come down to the creativity of UK people and innovation by businesses, not Government action. We are simply trying to create the best conditions to encourage innovation and growth.

Rt Hon George Osborne MP Chancellorof the Exchequer

Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable MP Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills

Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport.

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Government Response to the Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property and Growth

Introduction: Intellectual Property and Growth

The need for a strong and growing economy is evident to everyone. It isthe foundation of our wealth as a society and our ability to do things we value, individually and collectively. So the Government has made encouraging growth a centrepiece of its policy. We want to achieve strong, sustainable and balanced growth that is more evenly shared across the country and between industries. The Intellectual Property (IP) framework is a vital part of the business environment.We want to see a framework that helps a wide range of UK businesses to invest profit and expand as much as possible. In November 2010 the Prime Minister announced an independent review of the IP framework, to maximise its support for innovation and growth. The review, led by Professor Ian Hargreaves and supported by a panel of independent advisers, published its report Digital Opportunity - AReview of Intellectual Property and Growth on 18 May 2011. We are grateful to Prof. Hargreaves, his panel and to the many people and organisations who contributed to the review through its call to evidence or meetings with the team. We have also valued hearing initial reactions to the Review and its findings from a range of commentators. Digital Opportunity is an apt title. The choice Prof....