Daithí has written the post I was going to write on the impact of the new Programme for Government on media, IT & IP law. It’s an excellent post, and there is little I could usefully add. One of the key points is the promise:

We will pioneer within the EU a model of ‘fair use’ in European Copyright Law, like in the USA, which effectively permits the use of portions of a copyrighted work so long as the normal economic exploitation of the originating work is not undermined. This will allow internet companies and other digital innovators to bring their services to market.