Intellectual Property

Wednesday, 25 June 2025

Questions (59)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Question:

59. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment whether any stakeholder within the music sector lobbied the Government for erasing the role of licensing bodies from dispute resolution of sound recording copyright in advance of the publishing of the Copyright and Related Rights (Amendment) Bill 2025; and to provide details of times, dates and participants in correspondence or meetings where this erasure was discussed. [34565/25]

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Written answers

Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment

I wish to inform the Deputy that, following a comprehensive review of departmental record, there are no records to reflect any stakeholders within the music sector lobbied the Government to remove the role of licensing bodies from the dispute resolution process for sound recording copyright in advance of the publication of the Copyright and Related Rights (Amendment) Bill 2025.

The amended section 208 removes the arbitration function in cases where parties cannot reach agreement on the sharing of equitable remuneration from the Controller of Intellectual Property of Ireland and grants this to the Circuit Court. The proposed amendment to section 208 the Copyright and Related Rights Act does not alter the role of licensing bodies in dispute resolution of sound recordings, and this was not considered.