CHANGES TO the Irish copyright regime could facilitate innovation and still ensure rights holders are rewarded for their ideas, Facebook has said in its submission to a body examining copyright issues for the Government.
The social networking company told the Copyright Review Committee that its operations in Ireland had not been “materially inhibited” by Irish copyright law.
However, it said there were lessons to be learned from the US regime in relation to issues such as protecting service providers from liability for content posted by their users and that exceptions provided for in the Irish copyright regime should be more flexible.
Some 180 submissions were received by the committee, which was established last year by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to identify areas of copyright legislation that create barriers to innovation.
Microsoft, RTÉ, Research In Motion, the Arts Council, the National Newspapers of Ireland, Boards.ieand the Higher Education Authority also provided their views to the group, chaired by Trinity College Dublin law lecturer Eoin O'Dell.
The submissions had provided “a lot of food for thought”, Dr O’Dell said, and they would all be considered in the final report.
Boards.iesaid copyright law was "seriously lacking clarity, particularly with regard to the online environment". It was operating in a "grey area, trying to interpret legislation to the best of their ability".
Submissions can be viewed at iti.ms/Oxo99H
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