A large number of individuals and organisations within the creative industries have written to the Prime Minster arguing that the Government’s approach to protecting copyright against possible infringement by AI companies “fails to account for international and UK human rights law”.

The letter is the latest example of those in the creative industry becoming increasingly concerned and impatient as the Government has yet to come forward with its plan on how to address AI and copyright whilst the technology only gets ever more sophisticated by the day.

As matters stand, we still await the outcome of the major AI and copyright consultation which was launched at the end of last year (and which we discussed here). Since then, various attempts (discussed here) were made by the House of Lords to protect the rights of copyright holders through amendments to the Data (Use and Access) Bill, but ultimately they proved unsuccessful.

The letter points to these recent developments and argues that “Ministers’ deliberate choice to remove the amendments to the Data (Use and Access) Bill mark a clear breach of UK citizens’ human rights”. In particular, the letter cites Article 15, paragraph 1 (c) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) 1966 which talks of a person’s right “to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is author”. According to the signatories, “the Government’s formal position has exhibited a shocking indifference to mass theft, and a complete unwillingness to enforce the existing law or uphold the human rights stipulated by the ICESCR, the Berne Convention and the ECHR”.

The letter concludes by demanding that the Government sets out its justification for “actively ignoring the rights of copyright holders…since the general election” and to explain “the rationale for standing in the way of the transparency demanded by rights holders that would allow their rights to be asserted, given the clear and consistent breaches of their rights that continues to take place”.

To read the letter in full, click here.