Policy Download – May 2025

By Phoebe Scott

Date 22nd May

Reading Time: 3 minutes

MPs debate the transparency requirements for AI firms

The MPA joined industry representatives, musicians and politicians opposite the Houses of Parliament, to show a collective commitment to protecting rights-holders in terms of consent, compensation and transparency from AI tech firms.

The event coincided with a Parliamentary debate which saw MPs discuss the government’s Data Use and Access Bill, which is primarily concerned with data-sharing agreements in public services, but also includes amendments related to generative AI.

Politicians who attended included Alex Sobel MP, Pete Wishart MP, Victoria Collins MP, Colum Eastwood MP, Samantha Niblett MP, UK Music Chair Lord Watson, Lord Watts, and Lord Clement-Jones (article here). Musicians present included Braimah Kanneh-Mason, Bishi, and Beatles producer, Giles Martin.

Open letter to the Prime Minister

The MPA has joined over 400 top creatives, media, leaders, and businesses in an open letter to the Prime Minister, urging him to give government support to proposals that would protect copyright in the age of AI.

Signatories to the letter represent a who’s who across the creative industries, and include Elton John, David Furnish, Paul McCartney, Florence Welch, Kate Bush, Coldplay, Antonia Fraser, Tom Stoppard, Richard Curtis, Ian McKellen, Kazuo Ishiguro, Moira, Buffini, Russell T Davies, Rachel Whiteread, Shirley Bassey, Antony Gormley, Emily Eavis, Tom Dixon, John Pawson, Justine Roberts, amid hundreds of others.

The letter warns: “We will lose an immense growth opportunity if we give our work away at the behest of a handful of powerful overseas tech companies and with it our future income, the UK’s position as a creative powerhouse, and any hope that the technology of daily life will embody the values and laws of the United Kingdom.”

The letter calls on Sir Keir Starmer to back Baroness Kidron’s amendment to the Data (Use and Access) Bill, which would give the UK creative industries urgently needed transparency over the copyright works ingested by AI models.

Read the full letter here

Data Use and Access Bill reaches Report Stage

The government were once again defeated over the AI transparency amendments in the Data Bill. Despite opposition from the government, Peers backed Baroness Kidron’s transparency amendment that would force AI developers to reveal sources of their model training data.

The Bill is expected to return to the House of Commons after the Parliamentary recess during the week of 2 June. The government is anticipated to propose a compromise on transparency measures to secure agreement from the House of Lords and ensure the Bill’s passage. The outcome of this process will carry significant implications for the intersection of technology and intellectual property, particularly in safeguarding creators’ rights amid the rapid evolution of AI.

The MPA has been lobbying MPs, to encourage them to voice support for the AI transparency provisions in the Bill.

Exhaustion of IP regime

The government has formally confirmed  that the UK will maintain its intellectual property exhaustion regime, now named the “UK+ regime”, following a long-awaited decision on the future of the UK’s parallel importation laws.

The decision follows a 2021 consultation and extensive stakeholder engagement which the MPA took part in. In our submission the MPA warned government against changing to an international exhaustion regime, as such regimes generally benefit net importers of cultural goods such as Australia and discriminates against net exporters of cultural goods such as the United Kingdom.

On the move

The MPA hosted several high-profile Labour politicians at the Ivor Novello awards, including Annelise Midgeley MP, Baroness Barara Keeley and Lord Mann.

Chief Executive Officer Paul Clements took part in a panel discussion on Meta Data at the Ivors Summit

Chief Policy Officer Ornella Akanga attended a CMO roundtable with the IPO to discuss progress on the government’s AI and Copyright consultation

Ornella attended a lunch with the IPO’s global attaché network to discuss the latest IP developments in India, North America, the Middle East, China and the EU.

Ornella attended a call with Shadow Culture minister Lord Parkinson to discuss the AI transparency amendments in the Data Usage Bill

Ornella attended a Make it Fair reception in parliament hosted by James Frith MP. While in parliament she caught up with Lord Kevin Brennan and Tulip Sidiq MP.