Media Resources

The Federation Against Copyright Theft (“FACT”), an industry body dedicated to tackling online and hard goods copyright infringement and criminal activity, has joined the Creative Coalition Campaign, a groundbreaking partnership between the UK’s top entertainment and media trade unions, supported by the TUC, and the sports, music, film, publishing and TV industries, with the goal of saving the many jobs at risk from illegal peer-to-peer (P2P) filesharing.  

By joining the Creative Coalition Campaign, FACT signals its support for the measures in the Government’s Digital Economy Bill aimed at reducing illegal P2P filesharing by up to 70% by requiring Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to implement technical measures against repeat infringers.  

The creative industries provide 1.8 million jobs in the UK across the stages of the supply chain, from production to distribution and marketing. During a time in which unemployment is rising sharply, a major priority for Government must be to work in partnership with employers in the sector in order not only to safeguard existing jobs but also to help create the environment in which businesses can flourish and new jobs can be created. 

With piracy depriving creative businesses of up to 20% of their revenues every year, many of these jobs are at serious risk. These include a wide range of people, such as sound engineers, camera crews, set designers, IT workers, make-up artists, journalists, print workers, script writers, proofreaders, retail shop assistants and freelance photographers.  

Kieron Sharp, FACT Director General, said: “FACT works to protect the livelihoods of those involved in making the world class films and TV programmes that are such an important part of the UK’s economy.

The Creative Coalition is unique in bringing together a broad consensus on the key issues of reducing illicit filesharing and creating a framework to educate and inform consumers and we are delighted to support it.” 

Christine Payne, General Secretary of Equity and Chair of the Creative Coalition Campaign, said: “We are very pleased FACT has joined our coalition. Our creative sector produces world-class content, enjoyed by millions around the world, but simply put, this cannot be sustained and more jobs will be lost if illegal file-sharing persists.   

“The measures announced in the Digital Economy Bill will help protect the livelihoods of the many people working in the UK’s creative industries, and we look forward to working with Parliamentarians to ensure that that the legislation makes its way through Parliament and onto the statute book.”

Commenting on today’s publication of the Digital Economy Bill, Christine Payne, General Secretary of Equity and Chair of the Creative Coalition Campaign, said: “The Government is doing the right thing by introducing legal measures aimed at tackling widespread online infringement of creative copyright, such as by peer-to-peer file-sharing or other technologies that may emerge in the future.   

 “Our creative sector provides 1.8 million jobs in the UK and produces world-class content, enjoyed by millions around the world, but simply put, this cannot be sustained and more jobs will be lost if illegal file-sharing persists.   

“The measures announced today will help protect the livelihoods of the many people working in the UK’s creative industries, including sound engineers, camera crews, set designers, IT workers, make-up artists, journalists, print workers, script writers, proofreaders, retail shop assistants and freelance photographers, among others.  

“The Creation Coalition Campaign now looks forward to working with Parliamentarians to ensure that that the legislation makes its way through Parliament and onto the statute book.” 

The Creative Coalition Campaign today welcomed the commitment from Lord Mandelson at C&Binet to support the UK’s creative industries through robust action on illegal peer-to-peer (p2p) file-sharing. 

The Creative Coalition Campaign particularly welcomes the acknowledgement that Internet Service Providers will be required to work with rights holders to take action to deal with the problem of illegal p2p file-sharing. We also welcome the Government’s assertion that temporary suspension of internet accounts should be considered as one option for serious repeat infringers.  We agree that strong deterrent technical measures are needed if the huge problem of illegal file-sharing is to be properly addressed. 

Commenting on today’s news, Christine Payne (Chair of the Creative Coalition Campaign and General Secretary of Equity) said:  “The problem of illegal file-sharing is clear.  Numerous reports have shown that the creative sector employs around 1.8 million people and illegal file-sharing puts these jobs at serious risk. “We are committed to ensuring that the interests of those workers are not neglected in the forthcoming legislation and we welcome the approach that the Government is taking.  We look forward to the publication of the forthcoming Digital Economy Bill and to working with the Government to deal with this serious issue.”