Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

This is being handled in a serious manner by the Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock. Last week I stated to the House that in the EMI and Others v. UPC High Court judgment of 11 October 2010, Mr. Justice Charleton pointed out he was restrained by the wording of the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 and thus could not grant an injunction to prevent infringement of copyright against an information service provider, or ISP, in the circumstances of what are called transient communications. In so doing, he stated Ireland had not fully transposed the relevant EU directives.

Legal proceedings against the State have been issued by the plaintiffs in the UPC case. Damages arising from a successful challenge here could be quite substantial.

On 22 December 2011, the European Commission also requested information on Ireland's compliance with the copyright directive. The Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, is handling this in a serious manner. The audits carried out already indicate this matter needs to be attended to and that is what the Minister of State is doing.

If extra time is-----

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