BPI was delighted to come together with parliamentarians, government officials, and other creative industries organisations to celebrate the annual ‘British IP Day’ during a parliamentary reception co-sponsored by BPI.

During the event, Sophie Jones delivered a powerful speech in her role as both BPI’s Chief Strategy Officer and the recently appointed Chair of the Alliance for IP. She emphasised that the UK’s gold standard IP framework underpins the crucial investment made by our members which is the bedrock of the music industry’s continued success. She called on our world-leading IP standards to be maintained if British music is to continue to add value to the UK economy as one of the high growth sub sectors identified by the Government.  

Sophie also took a moment to pay tribute to and thank the parliamentarians that have worked with BPI and the creative industries in recent months to help lobby against the damaging proposals set out in the recent ‘Copyright & AI’ consultation. You can read about BPI’s latest activity in relation to copyright and AI here.  

Read the full speech by BPI's CSO Sophie Jones here.

Some of the supportive parliamentarians in attendance at the reception included:  
  • Dame Chi Onwurah (Lab, Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West) (Chair of the House of Commons Science, Innovation & Technology Committee)  
  • Pete Wishart MP (SNP, Perth and Kinross-shire) (SNP Deputy Westminster Leader, Spokesperson for Home Affairs, and Spokesperson for Constitution) (Co-Chair of the Music All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG))  
  • Lord Clement-Jones (Lib Dem) (Lords Spokesperson for Science, Innovation & Technology) (Co-Chair of the AI APPG) (Vice Chair of the IP APPG) 
  • Baroness Keeley (Lab) (Chair of the House of Lords Communications & Digital Committee)  
  • Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Con)  
  • Lord Foster of Bath (Lib Dem)  

Also in attendance were representatives from BPI member companies, including elected independent council members.

Prior to the reception, BPI’s Head of Policy & Public Affairs Beth Sidwell joined a meeting with parliamentarians from the All-Party Parliamentary Group for IP which saw positive discussions about the Government’s recently published ‘Industrial Strategy’, bespoke Sector Plans such as the ‘Creative Industries Sector Plan’, and the ‘Trade Strategy’. You can read more about these documents in the update prepared by BPI here.