The curse of Brexit strikes again – this time it’s hitting the UK book industry

Copyright protection is crucial for UK authors who sell their works abroad, writes Rabina Khan. A change to the law could cost Britain’s publishing industry up to 25 per cent of its print revenue

‘Brexit is now bringing a particular type of curse to the world of books’ (Getty Images)

Brexit resulted in a border in the middle of the Irish Sea, UK residents not being able to travel, or live, in mainland Europe red-tape free, and sizeable parts of Kent being turned into permanent lorry parks.

Brexit is now bringing a particular type of curse to the world of books. Following the end of the Brexit transition period on 1 January 2021, the UK no longer participates in the EU’s regional exhaustion of IP rights system.

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) consultation on the UK’s future copyright exhaustion regime is now facing uncertainty. The government’s consultation, launched on 7 June 2021, is considering weakening the current copyright rules, which will impact the economy and, as the Save Our Books campaign states, will result in “fewer books, by fewer authors, for fewer readers.”

A fundamental way in which authors earn money from their books is through the copyright fees charged on them. For most UK authors, this income is from UK sales.

Because authors hold the copyright of their books, this allows them to set a price for books sold in international markets, these are priced appropriately for international markets – these could be markets where salaries are lower, for example. The law currently prevents the unauthorised importation of international copies of books into the UK, which would undercut the domestic market. The domestic market is where authors get the majority of their living – not necessarily a huge living, but a living, nonetheless.

This copyright protection is crucial for UK authors who sell their works abroad, as without it the UK market will be flooded with books produced and sold at a lower rate to the correct UK versions.

It is not just author incomes that are at risk; publishing companies and the wider book trade will also suffer financially if these changes are agreed. The book trade believes that in a worst-case scenario, this change could cost the UK book publishing industry up to 25 per cent of its print revenue – almost £1bn.

Lower print revenue means lower fees for rights’ holders, lower incomes for authors and fewer books for you to read. The range of books that are available will become narrower too as publishers will not want to take commercial risks.

Nicola Solomon, chief executive of Society of Authors, said: “That will affect opportunities for established and mid-list authors as well as prospects for new and aspiring writers: in a word, less diversity across all genres and writing professions – from non-fiction to fiction and translation to illustration. We need more authors, from more diverse backgrounds writing more books for ever-wider audiences. That will only happen if authors are able to make a decent living from their work, supported by world-leading copyright standards.”

If the IPO consultation favours the decision to remove any copyright borders for what are called parallel imports into the UK, authors will not be able to stop copies of their books from around the world from being imported and sold in the UK.

The only people who would benefit are the giant online retailers.

Stephen Lotinga, CEO of the Publishers Association, said: “This is a critical moment and the biggest threat to our industry post-Brexit. The strength of the UK’s copyright laws is key to ensuring that authors and publishers are paid for their work.”

What can we do? We must lobby MPs and get them to urge the government to avoid a radical shift to the way the book industry operates, refuse to adopt the proposed international regime, and keep the current exhaustion model.

“It sounds plausible enough tonight but wait until tomorrow. Wait for the common sense of the morning,” said H G Wells in his book The Time Machine, which seems incredibly timely now.

Let’s hope whatever is left of the government’s common sense prevails.

Independent booksellers, many of whom have seen a revival during the pandemic as people have rediscovered the joy of reading, would finally disappear from our high streets and with it, part of our historical culture.

Visit the Save Our Books campaign here.