A seminar last night discussed the merits of replicating the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) in the UK - the so-called IP Tsar - which was recently created in America and filled by Victoria Espinel in December 2009.
The majority of speakers at the talk hosted in the London office of Covington & Burling were in favour of creating a similar role in the UK and possibly even for Europe, but Conservative member of parliament Mike Weatherley, who sits on the All Party Parliamentary Intellectual Property Group, gave it a lukewarm response.
Weatherley said that as a member of the ruling Conservative party he is against creating more government.
"I would welcome a Tsar," said the politician, "it would raise the profile of IP, but I believe the American version is making up for deficiencies in its system. We don't have those problems."
This view was at odds with a talk given by barrister Ashley Roughton of Hogarth Chambers, just before the MP spoke.
Roughton pointed to the difference between American and UK systems for dealing with IP enforcement, with the British system centred on local action.
"There is a lack of coordination," said Roughton, on British efforts, and also a "need for consistency of decision making". But, he added: "there is no point having such a role unless there is a European angle."
Hogarth echoed the views of others at the seminar, and in particular Nicholas Munn of the UK Intellectual Property Office, when he called for more credible statistics on the cost of anti-counterfeiting to back any creation of an enforcement or coordinating officer in the country.
Roughton highlighted several stumbling blocks, including new legislation, the relationship with the Attorney General and creating the entitlement to prosecute, but he considered the biggest issue was how to pay for the role during swingeing budget cuts.
Raising funds direct from tax payers has its problems, as does using funds from rights owners themselves. Roughton was short on answers but was clear that the role should based at the UKIPO.
However, the IP community will find it hard to fight for a British IP Tsar along the lines argued for last night if Wishart's opinion on how the role could work is anything to go by.
"The Tsar could help in the promotion of what we expect industry to do," said MP Weatherley. He gave the example of the Internet Governance Forum held in Lithuania last September, which is a forum to debate best practice in governing the internet.
"No one from the UK music industry was there," he said, suggesting that an IP Tsar could help on this front.
