Mr. James Hickey:

I would like to reinforce what Mr. Stokes has said about the protection of intellectual property rights and in particular the protection of copyright. In this country, we do not speak about these issues often enough. I would say this is really important in terms of where we are going as a country. In the end, regardless of whether we are talking about music, films or television broadcasts, the real value is created through the value of copyright and the value of content which is protected by copyright. In a European context, this country is not necessarily seen as being as supportive as perhaps it should be in protecting and strengthening intellectual property rights. There is another perception.

We all face a classic challenge in trying to strike a balance in this regard. It is a balance between those who operate Internet service provider companies, who want to be able to use as much as content as possible as freely as possible, and those who create and generate that content, whom I believe should be properly rewarded for the work they do. There is a balance to be struck between the availability of copyright materials on a wide digital market basis and the full and proper remuneration of those who create the work. If those who create the work are not remunerated - it has already been mentioned that they are freelancers, by and large - we will not develop the content and the creativity that we are all here to try to support. The only way they can be remunerated is through copyright protection.