Success for the Save Our Books campaign
The Government has announced that the existing Copyright Exhaustion Regime will be retained, after previous suggested changes that would have been catastrophic for UK authors.
We are glad to see the Government announcement to retain the UK’s existing Exhaustion Regime. We, along with hundreds of ALCS members, requested that the Government retain the current exhaustion model through the Save Our Books campaign, when an “international exhaustion” model was considered by the Government in 2021 following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
These changes, proposed by the Intellectual Property Office, would have seen writers facing the possibility of their books being imported back into the UK at a different – usually lower – price than the author agreed when putting that work on the domestic market.
This change would have had a catastrophic impact on the UK’s authors and would likely have seen publishers relocate out of the UK. This change was suggested by the previous Government at a time when concerns had been continually raised about falling incomes.
Research from the Publishers Association at the time estimated that up to 64% of revenue from book sales (£22.2bn) could have been lost, with UK authors and illustrators losing £506m annually and tens of thousands losing their jobs.
We are relieved that with this Government announcement, this issue is now settled. We would like to thank all our members who wrote to their MP, and all who took part in the wider Save Our Books campaign.
Feryal Clark, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for AI and Digital Government, said: “Businesses have been waiting for clarity on what the UK’s parallel importation laws will be for too long and are rightly seeking certainty on this matter.
I am therefore pleased to announce to the House that the Government has taken a clear decision on this matter. Today we will publish the Government’s response to the 2021 consultation on the UK’s future exhaustion regime. It confirms that the UK will be maintaining its bespoke exhaustion regime – which we have called the “UK+ regime” – and sets out the extensive analysis and stakeholder engagement which underpins our decision. This provides the clarity that stakeholders across the UK have been calling for, helping to provide confidence to businesses, investors, and consumers that the UK will continue our balanced IP framework.”
You can learn more about our campaigning work here.
