Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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166. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he plans to improve the intellectual property rights of performers and actors in this State to match the rights and royalties guaranteed for similar work north of the Border; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53466/22]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The main source of copyright legislation in Ireland is the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 (as amended) (the ‘CRRA’). The legislation grants rights to the creators (“authors”) of works to use, distribute and reproduce their work. In addition, protection is afforded to performers, producers and broadcasters of works by what are known as ‘related rights’. The CRRA also ensures that rightholders have an effective means of enforcing their rights should they consider that they have been infringed.

The legislation is complimented by a number of Statutory Instruments, most recently by the EU (Copyright and Related Rights in the Digital Single Market) Regulations 2021 (S.I. No. 567 of 2021) which transposes the EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (EU) 2019/790. Considering the expansion of rights for rightholders provided by this transposition, whereby mandatory provisions of this significant EU Directive were implemented into Irish intellectual property law, I do not have plans to provide for further amendments at this time.

The transposition of EU Directive 2019/790 into national law strengthens the rights and protections of rightholders. The transposing Regulations contain provisions intended to address the “value gap”, in terms of the level of remuneration received by rightsholders relative to the usage of their works, and addresses the matter of fair remuneration.

Chapter 6 of S.I. 567 of 2021 addresses the principle of appropriate and proportionate remuneration for rightholders, it also outlines what factors should be taken into account when considering what is ‘appropriate’ and ‘proportionate’ remuneration in any given circumstance. Regulation 27 provides for a transparency obligation meaning that a rightholder shall receive, from the party to whom the rightholder has transferred his or her rights, detailed information on how the work has been exploited. This provision ensures that authors and performers have access to an increased level of information about the exploitation of their works and performances which is necessary to allow rightsholders to adequately and continuously assess their economic value.

Having obtained information, by way of the transparency obligations, Regulation 28 offers authors and performers a contract adjustment mechanism when “the remuneration originally agreed turns out to be disproportionately low” compared to the success of their work or performance and the resulting revenues generated. In addition, when a rightsholder transfers their rights there is an expectation that their work or performance will be exploited. In the event that this does not occur, Regulation 29 will allow for the revocation of rights thus allowing rightsholders to transfer or license their rights to another person.