UK: Vince Cable announces new measures for intellectual property protection

Vince Cable - the UK politician and economist who is currently the Business Secretary in the coalition cabinet of David Cameron - announced a new Government plan to help protect intellectual property including new measures to directly combat online piracy.

The IPO - alias Intellectual Property Office - will offer a new, wider, range of services aiming to improve services to business, strengthen enforcement, educate consumers about the respect of intellectual property and to get the most out of creative products and services.
According to Cable a new, fast and easy patent processing service will be offered by the Intellectual Property Office; moreover there will be a campaign to educate smaller businesses about getting the best value for their creativity and innovation.
The IPO will also be involved in a campaign to educate young people to understand the impact of illegal downloading; there will also be a tight partnership with subjects such as the City of London Police to tackle online piracy and wider intellectual property crime.

The packet of new measures should come into effect during 2013.

The BPI (British Phonographic industry, the British record industry's trade association) has welcomed Cable's plan and its chief executive Geoff Taylor commented: "We are very pleased to hear Government’s announcement today of a new campaign. We hope that it will be supported by significant funding, so that it can make a real difference in boosting the use of legal music services online".