The Government
welcomes the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property (IP) 
and will be taking forward
the recommendations for which it is responsible to ensure that the United Kingdom (UK) IP
regime is fit for the digital age. The Government firmly believes in the importance
of strong enforcement
of IP rights to support the UK’s most creative industries.
At present the music industry loses around 20 per cent of its annual turnover to piracy and counterfeiting.
The Review’s recommendations on IP enforcement will bring significant benefits
for UK businesses. In order to allow copyright law to be effectively enforced,
the Government will allocate an additional GBP £5m to Trading Standards in
2007-8 to support the implementation of new powers and duties to tackle copyright infringement.
The Review also recommends a number of measures to improve access and reduce costs for businesses using the IP regime. An independent Strategic Advisory Board for IP policy will be established to raise the performance of IP policy-making. This Board will receive GBP £500,000 from the Patent Office to commission research on emerging IP trends.