Intellectual property issues

Ann-Charlotte Hammar Johnsson (M)

Mr. Speaker! Intellectual property is thus today's focus for this motion report.

There has been a significant shift in the business world from the material assets, namely machines and buildings, having been most valuable to today, where it is the intangible assets that have gained the greatest value.

This is only accelerating. Today, companies that are intellectual property-intensive account for around 45 percent, if not more, of the GDP within the EU. 87 percent is a figure that corresponds to how intangible assets have increased over 20 years. The equivalent for tangible assets, when housing is subtracted, is an increase of 30 percent. It is thus 87 percent versus 30 in how companies are valued.

Unfortunately, it is far from the case that the intangible is known, and therefore it needs to become so. One cannot speak enough about intellectual property rights. There are great values in these assets, and for entrepreneurs and companies, they have great significance, not least the protection of patents, for Swedish and global competitiveness and for innovative power. Approximately 80 percent of a company's value is made up of intangible assets. Therefore, it is also important to know and find out how and if one needs to protect one's rights and how a company does this. We are not there yet, but we need to continue to talk and talk about intellectual property rights.

Intellectual property issues

Mr. Speaker! Fantastic innovations are occurring in our country. If they were converted into business to the extent they should, we would create higher value growth and thus welfare. Unfortunately, our entrepreneurs' innovations are not converted into business to the extent they should. It is a matter of being able to relate to the expression of getting value for money. A missed innovation is a missed business opportunity.

What we know is that companies that understand and know how to protect their tangible assets often have higher growth, higher profitability, and better development than those companies that do not. Therefore, it is serious that companies far from always protect their assets. With this said, I also want to highlight the importance of training in intellectual property rights in university and college education for those who are about to enter the workforce. There is great potential here moving forward.

Another area with great potential is our public sector, where there is significant room to utilize procurement, that is, public procurement, to deliver solutions in Swedish operations but also to drive our solutions forward and sell smart solutions to them in international companies, including AI. There is great potential here.

The National Agency for Public Procurement has a very important mission to fulfill in this context, and it is my hope that SKR and the state authorities talk about and spread knowledge on having a mindset that creates opportunities for both the public sector and for entrepreneurs and companies. That the National Agency for Public Procurement launched an arena for innovation procurement a year ago, Afori, which is intended to function as a meeting place for the public sector, the business community, academia, and civil society, is therefore good. The goal is to get more innovation procurements - and that is welcome - so that Sweden gets more out of research and innovation in society for smarter welfare and so that entrepreneurs and companies can sell solutions that make them more competitive nationally and internationally.

The National Agency for Public Procurement also has the important mission of increasing the relevant actors' knowledge regarding the importance of a strategic management of intellectual property assets.

Mr. Speaker! Let me give an example. It happens today, far more often than rarely unfortunately, that solutions are introduced in the public sector where one buys the inventor's idea instead of purchasing the use of it. This means that the public sector is left with an idea in a desk drawer that could be utilized by more and become good business for many, instead of the purchased idea not becoming possible to utilize and thus not benefiting anyone because the municipality should not and cannot utilize the idea for commercial purposes. The idea is thus locked to no use.

That is why the National Agency for Public Procurement's mission is excellent. I truly hope that the knowledge is spread for more businesses in a smart way across our country through dialogue, knowledge and information, which means that the agency takes a great responsibility for leading the discussion between the parties and SKR.

Mr. Speaker! What then is intellectual property? Well, it is the assets that exist in the form of inventions, trademarks, copyright, artistically and culturally created works. It is about knowledge, that is to say know-how, business processes and data.

Patents, trademark protection, design protection and copyright are all intellectual property rights. Copyright arises when you create a work, and for the other three, one can create protection, which one should do.

The Swedish Patent and Registration Office, PRV, and Vinnova have for several years been tasked with working on knowledge enhancement within the area of intellectual property. This is also described in the regulatory letter to PRV. From the regulatory letter, it appears that PRV shall report how the authority works towards increased understanding of intellectual property and rights as well as reduced infringements in relation to the public, the business community, and public actors.

I know, Mr. Speaker, that teachers are offered training at the agency to spread knowledge. Information campaigns have also been carried out on social media for young people regarding piracy. It is an important area of information to show what happens when individual entrepreneurs develop products and services that are misused and stolen to then be sold illegally.

Intellectual property rights, like all areas of our society, have a downside that concerns when there is an abuse of the right. Both great values, such as jobs and growth, are lost with piracy.

As someone said: Just as one does not enter a department store and grab what one wants and walk out, it should also work that way online. It is not different. Here, it is not only the politics that should create laws, but the one who buys also has a responsibility as a consumer to know what to do and in what way so as not to end up in criminal conduct.

Mr. Speaker! This motion report deals with different parts of intellectual property rights. One of the motions highlighted concerns the panorama exception. It aims to be able to resolve the question of whether there should be reasonable opportunities for private individuals to reproduce art digitally. What is being discussed is that private individuals, without permission, should be able to reproduce public art to a limited extent in various media. One can describe it as our old photo albums having ended up online. We want to be able to take pictures, and there may then be art in the background that someone is the author of. It could, for example, be our holiday photos.

It is clear that one is not allowed to photograph anything that is artistically portrayed for a direct commercial purpose. It is obvious. But there is a scale. It could, for example, involve taking an aerial photo of Stockholm, and there might be a work of art in the picture. The other end of the scale is when news journalists on TV or in media show images of crime scenes. It becomes a gray area when one has to take a stand on such decisions. There has been an ongoing investigation since July 2022 which, among other things, has the task of looking into this issue.

Mr. Speaker! The Government Offices are also preparing a proposal for a more modern and efficient compensation scheme for private copying, and the proposal will be presented in due course.

Even in the area of case development in the patent and market courts, the government has given a mandate that is to be reported by the autumn. In December 2022, the government gave Domstolsverket a mandate to specifically report on the case development in the patent and market courts for the period from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2022 based on relevant indicators. That mandate is also to be reported by the autumn. It is good that we get facts on the table.

On 1 June, a uniform patent system is also to enter into force, but since 1 January 2022, work has been carried out provisionally with this legislation.

The government is also working at the EU level to secure better conditions for small and medium-sized enterprises regarding court processes. The goal is to create a fast and efficient court process, not least for these small actors, when it comes to processing times, reduced application fees for among others micro- and small enterprises, and a cap on litigation costs. With the new system, small and medium-sized enterprises will therefore be offered the opportunity to litigate more cost-effectively.

According to information, a Nordic-Baltic branch of the patent court will be located in Stockholm. An applicant shall, in a single proceeding, obtain and maintain a European patent with effect in almost all of the EU. The consequence is expected to be cost savings, less bureaucracy, and increased legal certainty for users.

Mr. Speaker! I vote in favor of the proposal in the committee report and against all motions.

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Aida Birinxhiku (S)

Mr. Speaker! Thanks to the member for the speech!

I note that the member and I are in complete agreement regarding the importance of a functioning intellectual property protection for Sweden's innovation, competitiveness, and growth. I also note that we largely see the same challenges in the field of intellectual property rights.

We Social Democrats want to see a broad and offensive innovation strategy that can meet these challenges. We need a strategy to use existing patent data in a systematic and strategic way. We need a strategy to increase knowledge of intellectual property within the business sector and within academia. We need a strategy to adapt intellectual property protection to the rapid development occurring within AI and digitalization, as the member mentioned, and naturally also to effectively combat infringements of intellectual property rights.

The Moderates have previously championed the issue of a new intellectual property strategy in Sweden. This is clearly and explicitly stated in the latest committee motion from the Moderates. Therefore, I would like to take the opportunity to ask the member if the government is prepared to meet us halfway and introduce an offensive innovation strategy that takes into account the challenges that I outlined earlier.

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Ann-Charlotte Hammar Johnsson (M)

Mr. Speaker! I thank the member for the question.

It is quite true that we have submitted a committee motion where we have included this part about having a strategy where one gathers all knowledge. We know that this type of strategy takes time. We know that measures need to be taken and on many different levels, as the member points out. It concerns both AI and piracy.

The latter is a complicated issue. It is easy to think that one can move positions and legislate, for example, so that a company does not use IP addresses. One thinks that if one targets that company, one could solve the issue. But then there is a risk, or it is quite likely, that the company acquires another company that enters instead. No matter how you do it, you will be pushing this issue forward, so it is very complex. Then it is about being able to target individuals instead to take these steps.

The Board and I have also held a dialogue with Rättighetsalliansen regarding piracy specifically, which is a serious issue.

I will also answer regarding the strategy. Yes, it is correct that it is lying [there]. It is about business, academia, and politics needing to come together in a basis. Whether it is to be exactly a strategy, we shall see. It takes some time, as I said, and it may mean that one needs to do other things in the meantime. That is to say, one ensures that the different areas, AI and so on, work out proposals that together lead forward to a strategy. But we do know that Finland has a 2.0 and that Denmark has one and that Sweden lacks one, despite that you have had the opportunity to do this for eight years, so it is absolutely a question that remains.

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Aida Birinxhiku (S)

Mr. Speaker! Thanks to the member for the answer!

During the time we have sat in government, we have implemented several initiatives in the field of intellectual property rights to meet the challenges that I mentioned earlier. We have invested in knowledge-providing measures through assignments to, among others, PRV and Vinnova. We have introduced innovation checks. We have tightened the penalties for the most serious cases of intellectual property rights infringements. We have also introduced a new court order which entails increased predictability and reduced litigation costs in intellectual property rights cases.

We are naturally proud of all these initiatives. We know that things are going well for Sweden, but we also know that there are several areas where Sweden needs to become even better. We must continue to be one of the world's leading innovation countries, now and in the future.

That is why we are putting forward this proposal and want an offensive and multifaceted innovation strategy to be introduced in order to meet these challenges. The Moderaterna seem to agree, so now that the Moderaterna have the government power, I must naturally ask the member: When will such a strategy come, if it comes at all, and what challenges will it take into account?

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Ann-Charlotte Hammar Johnsson (M)

Mr. Speaker! When will it arrive? Yes, it is interesting that there are high expectations. That is to be expected of a government led by the Moderates, but it has only been a few months. Let the preparation take its time!

When it comes to measures that have been taken previously, it is as the member said that there is very much that we agree on.

I think it is good that steps have been taken forward to create these innovation vouchers and to give the assignment to the National Agency for Public Procurement, which should now take its responsibility and really push out a mindset that municipalities and regions can participate in this as testbeds where one can launch innovations both at home and abroad.

Two courts have been appointed to manage the collection of the patents. That is also good, and it will be evaluated how it looks now. That investigation was initiated in December, so a considerable amount of preparation is underway.

We take into account that the business community, academia, and politics shall be able to find solutions together, just as the Social Democrats have done previously. However, a separate strategy has not been established. It was something new that was launched this summer that the Committee on Enterprise shall do it, but it is probably good if the party has also united around it.

On the education side, there is still a lack of education in intellectual property rights at universities and colleges, which means that the working life lacks that competence. But we hope to get some momentum on it now, and a lot will happen.

(Applause)

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Aida Birinxhiku (S)

Mr. Speaker! In recent decades, the world economy has begun to shift from physical assets to intangible assets. In the modern knowledge economy, ideas are the most important resource.

A large part of the economic value created today is intangible - that is to say, it occurs in the form of new inventions, business ideas, music, design and film.

Knowledge-based assets such as patents, trademarks, and copyrights are behind much of what has made Sweden wealthy. A successful innovation policy has been completely fundamental to building our welfare society. Our innovative power creates jobs, growth, and prosperity. It also gives us opportunities to meet present and future challenges, not least when it comes to the green transition.

In Sweden, approximately 30 percent of jobs and 40 percent of the country's total economic value are created in intellectual property-intensive industries. Intangible assets constitute an ever-increasing part of a company's value, often as much as 80 percent. Companies that use intangible assets also have better returns, higher wages, and staff with higher competence.

For us Social Democrats, it is clear that Swedish companies should compete with innovative power and competence, not with low wages.

Year after year, Sweden is considered one of the world's leading innovation nations. Almost every second Swedish company is innovative. We have our education system, our safety systems, and our general welfare to thank for that. It gives people the right conditions to spread their wings, invest in their ideas, and start their own business. It actually makes all the difference.

Mr. Speaker! Knowledge-based assets are absolutely crucial for companies and for society as a whole.

Copyright is often at the center of the debate, which is not so remarkable since it can encompass everything from computer games to music.

The cultural and creative industries are increasing, which places demands on a functioning copyright protection. These are industries that almost exclusively produce goods and services of intangible value.

After tough negotiations, the Riksdag voted in November to pass the changes in copyright legislation that the so-called DSM Directive entails. And I am proud that we Social Democrats have, from day one, stood up for a modernization of copyright because it is necessary for the regulatory framework to function in an increasingly digitized society.

Regarding patent law, our patent system is completely central for companies and others to dare to invest in innovations, development, and research. Without Swedish patented inventions such as the pacemaker, the refrigerator, and the adjustable wrench, Sweden and the world would have looked very different.

In today's competitive market, brands and design have also become increasingly important. A brand often represents large parts of a company's built-up value and can therefore be very valuable.

Mr. Speaker! In the light of all this, companies and individuals must be able to protect their intellectual property. It is a prerequisite for them to receive coverage for their investments and be able to create and disseminate new works, products, and services. It is also a prerequisite for Sweden's collective competitiveness.

That is why we Social Democrats, as I mentioned earlier, have carried out several initiatives in this area while in government. We have, among other things, invested in knowledge-enhancing measures through assignments to PRV and Vinnova. We have tightened the penalties for the most serious cases of intellectual property rights infringement, and we have introduced a new court order which has resulted in increased predictability and reduced litigation costs in intellectual property cases. Furthermore, we have pushed for the issue of limiting costs in patent disputes for smaller companies at the EU level and view very positively the work that is currently ongoing within the framework of the unified patent system.

We are naturally proud of all these initiatives, but more needs to be done. There are several areas where Sweden needs to become even better.

Firstly, we must review how we can systematically use existing patent data to increase the returns on Sweden's innovation work and to invest research funds where they do the most good.

Secondly, we must increase knowledge of intellectual property rights as a strategic asset, especially among small and medium-sized enterprises. Equally important is that knowledge increases within the higher education and university world because research and research results constitute valuable intangible assets. The lack of knowledge that exists today leads to that far too great values are lost. We must do something about this.

Furthermore, the intellectual property protection must be adapted to the rapid development we see within digitalization and AI. Here, it is important that Sweden does not fall behind.

Finally, we must put a stop to the growing problem of intellectual property rights infringement. It can involve piracy, trademark counterfeiting, and illegal IP-TV. All forms of intellectual property infringement are theft. Let us just state that. Every individual infringement may sound harmless, but this is about billions of amounts being traded illegally and flowing into organized criminal activity.

We are losing companies and cultural creators who are forced to shut down completely. We are losing approximately 70,000 Swedish jobs and almost 16 billion in tax revenues. Therefore, we need to do much more, both nationally and within the EU, to put a stop to this organized crime.

Mr. Speaker! In this regard, we Social Democrats want the government to develop an offensive innovation strategy that can meet the challenges I described earlier. A national mobilization is needed to ensure that Sweden continues to be one of the world's leading innovation countries. Sweden shall be a leading industrial nation, where creativity flourishes, new thinking is encouraged, and new jobs are created.

We know, Mr. Speaker, that things are going well for Sweden, but we also know that Sweden can do better. Those who stand still are very quickly overtaken, and therefore we must safeguard our intellectual property assets in the best possible way - for the jobs, for the growth and for the welfare in our country.

With those words, I would like to conclude by moving for approval of reservation 6.

(Applause)

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Lili André (KD)

Mr. Speaker! On behalf of the Christian Democrats, I would like to begin by moving for the approval of the committee's proposal in the report and the rejection of all motions.

Intellectual property rights encompass the protection of intellectual achievements and identifiers and are divided into copyright and industrial property rights, where the latter concerns, for example, a logo, a patent, a customer register, a contract, a business method, or expertise. Intellectual property is highly international and influenced by globalization and technological development and therefore has great significance for Sweden's business sector. It is particularly important for our small and medium-sized enterprises. Companies that protect their intellectual assets often have higher growth, profitability, and development and thus create better business than those that do not.

Just over a year ago, we could read the news that Microsoft had bought the gaming company Activision Blizzard. The price tag for this deal was over 600 billion kronor. One does not need to be a dedicated gamer to think that this was an interesting piece of news. Even though most companies do not reach such sums, it is an incredibly clear proof that intellectual property regulations are important and that there is reason to keep an eye on this.

Mr. Speaker! Intellectual property protection is crucial for Sweden's competitiveness and growth opportunities. There are challenges. The Government recognizes the need to, among other things, encourage small and medium-sized enterprises to effectively use and take advantage of their intellectual assets, and therefore work is now underway to increase knowledge among companies so that they see the value of protecting their intellectual assets, as well as to achieve an increase in knowledge also within the public sector, where innovation procurement is crucial. It is also important that we take responsibility for improving protection and combating infringements of intellectual property rights.

The Swedish Intellectual Property Office and Vinnova have for several years been tasked with working to increase knowledge in the area of intellectual property, and that shall continue to be the case. Vinnova also continues to contribute to increasing knowledge among companies through innovation checks.

Through the National Agency for Public Procurement, an arena has been established for innovation procurement. The arena functions as a meeting place for the public sector, the business community, academia, and civil society. The purpose of the arena is for more innovation procurements to be carried out in Sweden so that research and innovation can reach out into society and contribute to the society's green transition as well as to increased welfare and the business community's competitiveness.

Mr. Speaker! Sweden's educational institutions also have an important role when it comes to strengthening knowledge of intellectual property within education and research. In Sweden, there is a structure with innovation offices at a number of educational institutions, which also have an advisory role regarding intellectual property. Work is currently underway to develop this structure and make it more purposeful. Within the framework of this work, it also includes raising the relevant actors' knowledge about the importance of a strategic management of intellectual assets. In addition, the Swedish Council for Higher Education and Vinnova have been tasked with developing a model for the follow-up and evaluation of the innovation offices.

I cannot emphasize enough that follow-up and evaluation involve ensuring increased competitiveness and increased opportunities to provide Sweden's small and medium-sized enterprises with the right conditions. This is crucial for Sweden's welfare.

With this, Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank you for the floor and once again express my support for the committee's proposal in the report.

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Jessica Stegrud (SD)

Mr. Speaker! We are debating the Committee on Enterprise's report 2022/23:NU14 regarding intellectual property issues. The Sweden Democrats have four reservations in this report. For time reasons, I choose to move for approval of only reservation 1.

Mr. Speaker! Sweden's path from a poor agrarian society to a wealthy, prosperous industrial nation has been made possible by, among other things, natural resources, work ethic, education, good energy supply, and not to forget fantastic inventors and companies that have seized upon and developed new ideas.

From Sweden, the small country in the north, many transformative and subsequently world-famous inventions have emerged, for example Tetra Pak, aerated concrete, the spherical ball bearing, the adjustable wrench, the propeller, dynamite, the three-point belt, the rollator, the pacemaker, and Spotify. These are inventions that in many cases have led to economic development, increased prosperity, and longer life expectancy, not only for us but also for many others around the world.

The Swedish people have in many ways been exceptional regarding inventions and innovations. This has, among other things, led to the emergence of successful Swedish companies that have become international. But changes in the outside world combined with weak domestic politics have progressively resulted in more and more of these success stories being bought up by foreign interests or moved abroad.

Mr. Speaker! In line with technological development and the maturation of the information society, intangible assets have become an increasingly significant part of the economy. Regulations regarding patents and copyright have become ever more important and complex. The development has also meant that technology and information are spread, consumed, and exhausted much faster than before.

Digital technology and the internet increasingly constitute the primary platform for both democratic debate as well as the dissemination of information and news and the consumption of cultural works and entertainment. At the same time, the copyright regulatory framework is still largely based on the order that arose when printing press technology constituted the basis for information dissemination.

Mr. Speaker! New times required new politics. And in order to create the conditions for new successful companies in the future, the breeding ground for new inventions and innovations needs to be strengthened. Our motions in this area therefore address various obstacles to once again make Sweden a flourishing, innovative industrial nation and include a number of proposals for how Sweden can create, promote, and protect new inventions and innovations.

Our motions also address another incredibly important issue: how we can best safeguard both copyright and freedom of expression in a modern digital society. To increase the opportunities and the willingness to complete a commercialization of inventions and innovations, we argue that an insurance solution with a state guarantee should be introduced. It should be usable by those who end up in a dispute regarding infringement from a third country.

In an international comparison, Sweden has shown to have few patent disputes that are decided in court. There are reasons to believe that this is due to the fact that the weaker party, often an individual inventor, risks having to pay very high litigation costs in a lost case. We therefore propose that, under certain conditions, a cap on litigation costs in patent disputes be introduced.

Mr. Speaker! In an increasingly global, complex and regulated world, the need for coordination and knowledge is also increasing. To help inventors and companies protect their intellectual assets, we propose that a knowledge center for these issues be established. It should be a kind of forum to gather, connect and disseminate expertise within the relevant areas.

Last but not least, I want to mention our reservation 1, which, among other things, is based on the Sweden Democrats' committee motion 2022/23:939 regarding copyrighted artworks in public places. By public art, artworks placed in the public space, parks, and squares are meant. They are most often financed with tax money. The Patent and Market Court decided in June 2017 that public art may not be photographed and subsequently published in digital channels where private individuals and others can access the artworks free of charge without physically visiting the location.

We consider it unreasonable. The copyright legislation should be revised so that public art, whose purpose is to be freely accessible to the public, shall also be free of charge via digital channels. Thus, the law needs to be modernized and made technology-neutral in this regard. It should simply become permitted to take photos of public art without sanctions, for example, to share on social media.

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Lorena Delgado Varas (V)

Mr. Speaker! Time and again we see the need to modernize the business sector, but then a business sector that competes with innovation and competence and not through low wages, violations of human rights or environmental destruction.

Sweden is a hub for innovation, which we politicians often highlight. We must protect and ensure this, both here and on a global level. By supporting particularly small and medium-sized enterprises in this, we will be able to meet the global goals. But of course, that is not enough. We must also have higher levels of ambition.

An important part for innovation companies is intellectual property rights. By intellectual property rights, protection of intellectual work is meant. Within the framework of intellectual property rights, we find copyright and industrial property rights. Copyright provides protection for music, literature and other artistic creations, while industrial property rights encompass protection for technical solutions through patents, design protection or protection for trademarks and other trade identifiers.

I want to take the opportunity to highlight the concern I feel regarding what the innovations will look like moving forward when universities and colleges are forced to cut back. I do not mean that all inventions and innovations come from there. But it is an incredibly important piece of the puzzle for Innovationssverige. It is important that we do not fall behind. Today we unfortunately see that several universities and colleges are considering how they will cut back on both offices and other space, including labs, in order to be able to keep costs down.

How important this is for both society and individual companies was shown, not least by the vaccine debate that started during the pandemic. The distribution of vaccines was skewed. The rich countries, which own the patents, had vaccines to cover the populations in our countries several times over. In what we call the global south, developing countries, they did not even have enough to cover vaccination for healthcare personnel.

The consequences of the imbalance and the fact that countries in the global south had to direct all societal resources toward countering the pandemic are still highly relevant. Discussions were ongoing about pausing patents for medicines and technical equipment to give more people a chance to produce during the pandemic, as neither vaccines nor equipment were sufficient. We believe that Sweden can do more to share important patents within the health sector but also when it comes to the development of technologies that contribute to mitigating the climate crisis.

Last year, we voted through the new copyright directive in order to adapt copyright to the digital reality we live in. Vänsterpartiet's starting point has always been to protect the creators' income. At the same time, it should be easy to access the material digitally, and freedom of expression must not be restricted. The idea behind the new law was also to meet the need to protect the copyright holders against the tech giants. The truth is that this is unbroken ground, but it is also the case that the law was watered down during the processes in the EU. With that in mind, we mean that the law's implementation and outcome should be continuously evaluated. Therefore, we move for approval of reservation 3.

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Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist (C)

Mr. Speaker! Intellectual property, that is to say issues regarding design rights - often called design rights - patent rights, copyright and also trade secrets, is important for innovation and growth in general but right now also crucial for the climate transition because it can promote innovation and development of climate-smart technologies.

Patents give innovators and companies exclusive rights to use, sell, or license a new technology or invention for a certain period. This creates incentives for companies and inventors to invest in research and development of new climate-smart technologies by giving them the opportunity to profit from their innovation.

Patents are, for example, necessary to promote the development of new technologies within renewable energy, such as solar, wind, and hydropower, but also different types of energy storage. Patents are also important to promote the development of technologies that improve energy efficiency and new materials that are necessary to create light cars, boats, and aircraft. Patents are absolutely crucial for the development of technologies that help to adapt societies and ecosystems to the climate disasters that are already affecting people all over the world, such as drainage systems and flood protection. All of this is technical development that requires patents.

As an investor, I have many times worked with companies that are to have patents approved at Swedish, European, and international levels. For many years, fantastic work has been ongoing to ensure that it becomes easier to apply for patents, not in many countries but in a common way in the EU.

A patent is a steady backbone in often quite fragile companies. It is not a decisive criterion for getting capital into a company and creating the first growth. But within certain areas, it is an entirely necessary criterion.

There is still much that the universities' incubators and various environments can do to ensure that entrepreneurs understand all parts of intellectual property early on, as for many they stop at the conclusion that patents might not be something for them. It is, in fact, quite difficult to understand all the ways they can be used.

Mr. Speaker! The digital platforms place entirely new demands on intellectual property rights. These are platforms that have been revolutionary for people's opportunities for free expression. It is a freedom that must be preserved and defended. Today's copyright framework is unfortunately outdated and in urgent need of updating. A modernized framework must, on the one hand, guarantee the copyright holders' right to reasonable compensation for their works, and on the other hand, guarantee the individual's right to express themselves freely.

The EU's review of copyright in the digital market, which resulted in a proposal for a new copyright directive, was welcome. At the same time, it was important that the implementation of the EU's new copyright directive into Swedish law did not lead to a restriction of freedom of expression on the internet. The EU Court of Justice has also been clear on that point and clarified that hindering legal expressions is not permitted under any circumstances.

The provisions in the directive called the upload filter, which mean that providers of online platforms must filter out copyright-protected content uploaded by users, must in practice not lead to legal content being prevented from being shared on the platforms.

For a better and more contemporary copyright, the government should, in a future review of copyright, future-proof the regulatory framework by introducing technology-neutral provisions that simultaneously set clear boundaries for the actors who have to comply with the regulatory framework. Furthermore, Swedish researchers must be given better conditions to share research results based on text and data mining, and the educational institutions' right to use copyright-protected works must be strengthened.

Mr. Speaker! I wish to move for approval of reservation 4 under point 2.

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Elin Söderberg (MP)

Mr. Speaker! Sweden is a successful country with many innovations, strong brands, and a world-class music, design, gaming, and fashion industry. Miljöpartiet wants to move the positions forward for the sake of culture, business, and exports.

The creative industries are dependent on there being a strong artistic and cultural core at the base with an ambitious cultural policy that can promote the emergence of cultural content which can then be turned into an industry. At the same time, specific measures are needed to promote the cultural and creative industries and the internationalization of culture.

The Green Party appointed a government inquiry to submit proposals for a unified national strategy aimed at promoting long-term and sustainable development of the cultural and creative industries across the entire country. The government should proceed as soon as possible and decide on a strategy for the cultural and creative industries in all of Sweden.

International exchange, cooperation and export are important both for artistic development and quality and for Swedish artists' opportunities to operate on an international market. The pandemic has negatively affected the work with the internationalization of culture. The restart investigation proposes specific initiatives on both international exchange and export. We want to proceed with these.

Mr. Speaker! Today, a great deal of copyright-protected material is consumed digitally. Therefore, it is important that copyright rules are adapted to the digital age. The emergence of new, web-based business models that make it easy to access an ever-growing cultural offering is positive. At the same time, it is important that the creators of culture are paid for their work.

The purpose of the EU's new copyright directive is to modernize and harmonize the rules for copyright in the EU's internal market. For us in Miljöpartiet, it is important that the implementation of the directive both secures freedom of expression and freedom for users, and also entails a real improvement for rightsholders. It is, for example, important that the legislation provides strong support to authors who enter into agreements with online services that are to make the copyright-protected material available, and that authors' right to receive information on how their works are used is strengthened.

Unfortunately, the imbalance in the balance of power between copyright holders and actors with a strong position on the market persists to some extent. We in the Green Party would have liked that the government's legislative proposal to implement the DSM Directive into Swedish law had contained provisions for ongoing evaluation of the new regulation. Given the great significance the regulation has for copyright holders, we believe that the effects of the new legislation should be evaluated on an ongoing basis.

Intellectual property issues

With this, I move for approval of reservation 3.

The deliberation was hereby concluded.

(A decision was to be taken on 13 April.)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)