Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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Question 88: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation the steps he will take to address the difficulties facing the Irish music industry. [6336/11]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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I understand that the Deputy is referring to difficulties being experienced by rights holders in the Irish music industry as a result of the downloading of copyright material on the Internet.

Under existing legislation, any person who illegally uploads or downloads unlicensed music is liable for copyright infringement under the terms of the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000. Under Section 127 of the Act any such infringement is actionable by the copyright owner and in any such action, all relief by way of damages, injunction, account of profits or otherwise, is available to the plaintiff as it is available in respect of the infringement of any other property right. Such a person, whose Internet Protocol address may be identified through various detection methods, may be pursued by the copyright holder following a judicial process (the obtaining of a so-called "Norwich Pharamacal" Order) from the courts. Under this procedure, a court may order an Internet service provider to disclose the names of the alleged infringers through their IP addresses, subject to certain safeguards.

The Deputy may also have in mind the recent ruling by Justice Charleton in a High Court case where the major record companies took an action, seeking injunctions pursuant to Sections 37 and 40 of the Copyright Act , against an internet service provider. In that case the Justice refused the application. The implications of this judgement, and of consequent legislative change(s), is currently being considered by my Department in consultation with the Attorney General's Office and the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources.