Jersey becoming an international e-commerce centre?
By: Emma Peart
This October will see a plan to modify the Intellectual Property Law of Jersey to bring it screaming into the 21st Century with a suggested overview of its Intellectual Property Law which has not been updated for 100 years.
The main problem for Jersey with no revision to its law in this area for so long is that there is generally no consideration for current technology and the various issues it could raise in relation to Intellectual Property.
The draft Intellectual Property (Unregistered Rights) (Jersey) Law(“IPURL”) has been a consolidation of recent considerations for review through the Draft Copyright(Jersey)Law, The draft Design Right(Jersey)Law and the draft Performers’ Protection (Jersey) Law.
It is hoped that in particular by bringing Jersey Intellectual Property Law into line with various European and indeed international provisions it will particularly help the development of e commerce on an international scale. It is hoped that it will encourage ecommerce by allowing the law in Intellectual Property to be applied in particular to computer software and electronic publishing, some of the larger areas of growth.
The main provisions that would help promote ecommerce are visible particularly within the copyright provisions. Copyright allows a creator to seek a monetary return for the creative product and monetary compensation if someone attempts to avoid this. In summary it is hoped the proposed changes in relation to copyright would do the following:
1. Provide clarity to right holders in copyright regarding authorisation of the use of their material. In relation to ecommerce it could help provide clarity on authorising the commercial rental of copies and making available online the subject of their copyright and the extent to which they can do this.
2. Allow a fairer list of exceptions seen in most copyright systems. This could be of benefit in ecommerce as it could allow businesses to use short extracts of copyrighted material for review or criticism.
3. Regulation of the use of digital rights management. Much copyright content is stored online and there are various models which allow consumers to have use of the copyrighted content whilst allowing the copyright owner to receive royalties. However it will now allow consumers greater choice on how to do this by allowing a variety of models, for example payment on a subscription basis or advertising. Whilst it is hoped the suggested regulation will allow the copyright owner business models that offer the consumer more choice, and hopefully more ways of obtaining royalties, it also gives more guidelines to consumers if it overrides the right they should gain from the permitted exceptions regulations. It is hoped these points will be of benefit to businesses.
No reliance should be placed on the information given and you advised to seek independent legal advice.
