As the title of the post says, this post has three updates about the work of the Copyright Review Committee. First, following a large number of requests for an extension of time to reply to the Committee’s Consultation Paper, the Committee has decided to extend the deadline for receipt of submissions to 5.00pm on Thursday 31 May 2012 (update: you can download a pdf of the Paper here (via DJEI) or here (from this site)). Second, the text to three of the questions on the first page of the Committee’s online questionnaire has been updated to confirm that certain information provided by respondents (such as postal address, email address, and website) will not be published.

Third, the Committee is delighted that Mr Dáithí O’Ceallaigh, Director General of the Institute of International and European Affairs and Chairman of the Press Council of Ireland, has agreed to chair the public meeting on the Paper. Mr O’Ceallaigh joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1973. He went on to assume posts in Moscow, London, Belfast and New York, before serving as Ambassador to Finland and Estonia (1993-1998), Ambassador to the United Kingdom (2001-2007), and Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva (2007-2009), as well as the World Trade Organisation and the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. In 2008, in Croke Park, he headed a small Irish team which negotiated the Convention to Prohibit Cluster Munitions which cause unacceptable harm to civilians.

The public meeting will be held next Saturday, 24 March 2012, from 10:00am until 12:00 noon, in the Robert Emmet Lecture Theatre, Room 2037 Arts Block (map here), Trinity College Dublin. The meeting will be divided into eight 15-minute question-and-answer segments, covering (i) the proposed Copyright Council; (ii) rights-holders; (iii) collecting societies; (iv) intermediaries; (v) users; (vi) entrepreneurs; (vii) heritage institutions; and (viii) fair use. Attendance is free and open to anyone interested in the work of the Committee, but registration is necessary. To register, you can

• email the Review,
• write to Copyright Review, Room 517, Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Kildare Street, Dublin 2, or
• complete the Committee’s online questionnaire and answer the last question by confirming that you wish to attend the meeting.

I look forward to seeing you there!